The HalfLife of Gordon Freeman
by UruExplorer DTC
Summary: Gordon "Kyon" Freeman works at Black Mesa along with his friend Nova Tsuruya. Follow the events leading up to, through, and after the Reasonance Cascade. Inspired by "Freeman's Mind" of which belongs to R.S.
1. Late to work OR Not as shown on TV

_The Half-Life of Gordon Freeman_

**STORY SET UP_ _ _|**

So, here I am, One night, As I'm going to bed, And I think upon the Machinima "Freeman's Mind"; Then, I think on the Haruhi Suzumiya series. I then think "Hey, we've never found out what Kyon's real name is!" So, as I don't have the Half-Life game itself (Waiting on the Black Mesa mod for HL2), this is based on "Freeman's Mind" as the source footage.

So, here it is, I hope you enjoy.

_DimensionTraveler

_EPISODE ONE._

**KYON'S POV_ _ _| TRAM CAR SYSTEM_ _ _|**

_*PING PING*_

Wait? What...Where...?

_Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. _

Oh...right...

Who am I? My name is Gordon Freeman, though, my close, personal friends still insist on calling me "kyon."

_This train system is provided for the safe transfering between the stations of this facility._

So, you know who I am, but not where I am? Let me explain.

The last time you may have seen me was back at my old high school, in the SOS brigade. Led by Haruhi Suzumiya, our so called "god."

Let me get something straight right here and now. Koizumi, Itsuki had it wrong: Haruhi is NOT a god by any means. Asahina, Mikuru was right: Haruhi is the source of a 'time-quake'. Nagato, Yuki is not a Data Integration Thought entity, AKA an Alien. She is the true 'god', going by Koizumi's reasoning. Suzumiya, Haruhi, is not a 'god' in any sense of reasoning. She is the Alien. An extremly power-full alien.

_The time is: Eight. Fourty-Seven. A.M._

"Snow crabs in a hat!" Curses the now- shoulder length green haired girl sitting across from me. "we're late, Gordon!"

Tsuruya, Nova. One of Miss Asahina's former classmates during our SOS Brigade days. Believe it or not, she's a perfectly normal human. Just like me. Not a Time traveler, ESPer, Alien, Dimensional Slider, Other-world-ly god, ECT...

"Looks like we're not the only ones." I wryly note as the tram passes by a security check-point. With a lone security guard pounding on the door.

"LOOSEEEER!" Miss Tsuruya cries out to the poor guard.

"Nova, please don't antagonize the guards." I sigh. "They have it hard enough with those scientists in sector J."

Tsuruya, as hyper as when I first met her, grins at me. "Sorry, Gordon."

_The Current Top-Side Temperature is: Ninety-Three Degrees. With an estimated high of: One-Hundred and Five._

"Another scorcher, eh, Mister Freeman?" asks the one other occupant of the tram, some scientist from Sector H, I think.

"I suppose so." I look out the window as we pass over one of the main junctions.

_The Black Mesa Compound is maintained at a comfortable temperature of: Sixty-Eight Degrees._

"Not so much for us." Nova grins. "We're lucky our lab's right next to the..."

"Anit-Mass Spectrometer." The scientist finishes grimly. "That thing will be the death of us with all of these system malfunctions we've had in the past week."

_This Train is Inbound from Level Three Dormitories, to Sector C Laboratories._

"OOH! Robots!" Nova grins and jumps over to my side of the tram, to look out the window.

I've seen it all before. Same old welder machines.

_If you are planning on entering High Security Clearance Areas of Sector C, you will have to return to the central transit hub and board a High-Security Train.  
_  
"Am I on the right train?" the scientist asks.

I don't answer, as my attention is drawn to the large Missile being prepped for test firing, just outside our train.

_If you have not already sumbited your retanal scans to the Main Office, you will not be able to enter the high Security Branch of the..._

"Yeah...High Security. That's why we have armed missiles laying about." I comment. "Black Mesa: Where Nuclear Missiles are 'standard clearance.'"

Nova smiles as the tram starts to descend to a lower track. "Well, I think that one was de-commissioned for the tour."

"We don't have tours." The scientist grumbles.

_No Smoking, Eating, or Drinking is permitted on the Black Mesa Transit System. Please keep your limbs inside the tram at all times._

"Why would they mention that if they have glass on the windows?" I wonder.

"It's just for fun." Nova shrugs.

_In the event of an emergency, please..._

I tune everything out as I think back to that time, years ago. Back in the SOS brigade...

It was all for fun.

_*cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

**WACDONALDS_ _ _| SEVERAL YEARS EARLIAR_ _ _|**

"So...Koizumi's an ESPer, Mikuru's a Time Traveler, and Yuki's an Alien?" Haruhi asked me on that fateful day after the Closed Space Incident.

"Yup." I confirmed.

She laughs. "That has got to be the funniest thing I've heard all day!"

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Weeeell..."

Then, everything went still.

"Kyon, Kyon, Kyon..." Haruhi's voice seemed to come from everywhere, and at the same time, her mouth didn't even move. "Have you ever considered the possibility that no-one in the universe ever has ONE single fact straight?"

'Are you counting Taniguchi? Because if so, then, Yes.' I thought sarcastically while I considered my answer.

"No, I'm not counting him."

'What?! How did you...?' I was shocked.

"Kyon you do realize neither of us are actually talking with our mouths. We're talking in our minds."

This was crazy, and even more so when our position of space-time had suddenly shifted to the SOS Club Room.

Nagato alone was sitting in it, but, she wasn't moving. More so than usual.

"Nagato, Yuki." Haruhi continued as she walked around the room, while I, seemingly, was glued to the floor. "She's told you that she's an alien. A Data Integration Thought Entity, Correct?"

I tried to nod then, but, unfortunately, only my eyes were free to move.

Haruhi still got the idea. "Then she thinks I'm a god? Hopping from place to place, idea to idea, never the same one day in a row?" She laughs. "In a way, she's right."

'Wait, I'm confused.' I'd thought.

"I'm really what you'd call an Alien." Haruhi continued. "And, Yuki, in reality, is the God."

I was severly confused by all this. Could nothing in my life go upside down more than it had now?

"I was sent to observe her. Along with several others. Front and foremost, Ryoko Ashakura."

My jaw would have hit the floor had it not been frozen shut.

"My... group... realized that Yuki had... special abilities." Haruhi growled. "One of my... Superiors... thought that if we captured Yuki from this time plane, it would... easily put... 'prove to be our salvation', as it were. It was only because I told _his _Superior that me and the others were put in place to watch Yuki."

'So, how does this make you 'god' in everyone else's eyes?' I had asked.

"Simply put: Yuki saw me." The world flashed to a train station. Empty, save two.

Apparently Three Years ago, I believed until Haruhi continued, was a younger Yuki, glaring at a present day aged Haruhi through a train window. Regardless of the fact that Haruhi was standing right next to me.

"I'm...ageless, in certain terms. Six years ago, Yuki saw me one too many times, and thought to herself 'I'm following this girl,' and she put herself in the roll of observer." Haruhi laughs. "She kept seeing me, time and time again, and my superiors... got concerned."

Flash forward, apparently, to a school's front gate.

Now, Three years previous, was me, present day, slightly older by a few months, carrying Miss Asahina on my...his back, and talking to a three years younger Haruhi.

"Three Years ago, you came along from the future, and helped... me create a seal, that created the world as we know it."

Location change again...

Nagato's apartment. She looked present day age, and was talking, again, to me and Miss Asahina.

"You were out of a way back home, And Yuki, at the time of the seal's creation, had a way to get you back." Haruhi sighs as the world outside the room fast forwards as the world inside remains the same. "She froze the entire time space of her apartment with her powers for those three years, and got you back to an indeterminate time in the future she un-froze."

'Which was why she never aged...!' I had realized then.

**PRESENT_ _ _| BLACK MESA TRAM SYSTEM_ _ _|**

"Gordon!" Nova shakes me back to awareness.

"What?" I ask as a green glow fills the room.

"Radiation Spill." She sighs as the tram comes to an abrupt halt.

Oh. Well, it wasn't that bad. Just the area under the immediate track being filled with hazardous radioactive matrials.

So, I sigh, and look around the room.

Every once and a while, after that day, once a year, I spotted Haruhi for a few days straight in various locations, just out of reach.

So, Guess what day it is?

However, Instead of Haruhi in the Tram across from us, I spot a man in a blue business suit, carrying a brief case. He emanates the exact same feeling I got from Haruhi then...Only...Darker...

The Government Man fixes his tie, and his tram continues on in the opposite direction.

I feel a shivver go down my spine.

**PAST_ _ _| WACDONALDS_ _ _|**

The glow faded. And we were back at the table.

"What...?!" I blinked. Time hadn't even moved forward.

"That's got to be enough proof, for you at least." She sighed. "Kyon...I..."

"I beleive you." I sighed. "I just don't know what to think of it."

"Well...I'll let you think on it." Haruhi stood up. "But, if you choose to ignore this, I can under stand, but...just remember this..."

She leaned towards me and started to whisper something...

**PRESENT_ _ _| SECTOR C_ _ _|**

_...Now arriving at: Sector C Test Labs._

"Huh?"

"hey, we're here." Nova smiles.

Already? I must've drifted off... That other scientist is gone.

_Please wait for a Black Mesa Security Officer to verify your identity._

Said officer began his approach to the tram.

_Please check your belongings, and have a safe day._

"Mornin' Mister Freeman, Miss Tsuruya." The guard nods as he finally finishes the long walk down the catwalk. "Looks like you're running late today."

"tell me about it." I sigh as he opens the door to the tram.

"Either we're fired or we're not." Nova shrugs as we get out. "I say we're not because of the computer glitches messing with our alarms."

"Ah." The guard shrugs back, and then head towards the main gate. We follow, of course, as the tram's already pulled away. "Well, whenever I'm late, I just stroll in like I own the place."

He then opens the main gate.

"So..." Nova starts. "You're officially Twenty-Seven today!"

I sigh. "Yes, yes I am."

We pause in front of the secondary door of the main gate.

"So...Are you doing anything?" Nova asks.

"Not really." Is my reply.

"What about Haruhi?"

"I see her almost every year."

"So?"

"'So?'"

"What about Mikuru? Or Yuki?"

I cut her off. "Don't you even dare say Koizumi."

"Well, what about them?" She finially asks. "What about your sister?"

"You know what Haruhi said when we left for M.I.T." I reply.

"Yeah..." Nova sighs. "You're right."

"Let's just get suited up, and get this day over with." I activate the motion sensor, and head into the lab.

"Hey Mister Freeman!" Calls out the security guard behind the desk. "I had a bunch of messages for ya from some company called "SOS-Dan", but then we had a system crash about...I don't know...Twenty minutes ago?...And I'm still trying to find my files."

Nova elbows my side. "See...!"

"Just gonna be one of those days, I guess." The guard sighs. "You'll wanna head down to the test chamber as soon as you suit up..."

Nova grins. "Well, We're not fired then!"

The Guard looks up and frowns. "I wouldn't know about that...With all these glitches in the main-frame, we all might be lookin' for new jobs pretty soon."

"I bet it was those baboons at Aperture Science who did this!" Exclaims the scientist standing next to the guard. "'High-Energy-Gamma-Leaking-Portal-Technology' my pie!"

Nova whistles lowly as the scientist walks off in a huff. "Someones got a grudge."

I sigh. "Tell me about it."

"Well, I'm gonna go suit up!" Nova skips off with a grin. "See ya there!"

"Grr...Another B.S.o.D.!" The guard curses. "I'll never get back to my game at this rate!"

I look over the desk. Sure enough, Window's Blue Screen of Death displays on the monitor. Though, _**why**_ a security guard would be playing a game on duty, I don't know.

"Well, Good luck with that." I comment, and hurry off down the hallway, following the red bar painted on the walls.

I don't even care that I'm going the wrong way.

Then, the chill returns.

I look over towards the vice-administraitor's lab. And there's the Gov-man again. Arguing with Keller, the scientist that arranges what we put into the Anti-Mass Spectrometer.

I quickly continue down the hallway, towards an airlock.

"Sorry, Mister Freeman, You've got the wrong airlock." States a guard. "You know I can't let you through here."

"I'm just stretching my legs." I reply, and head back the other way down the hallway, noting the sign that says "SECTOR B that-a-way" on the end of the corodor. How could one miss it?

I follow the Yellow line to the lockers past the cafeteria, and stop as my stomach growls.

It couldn't hurt to take a little snack.

I enter, and look around, two scientists, one was named Magnusson, and the other...I don't really remember; Magnusson just put a casserole into the microwave.

A Casserole with _my_ name on it.

I walk over to the microwave and press the stop button.

When it doesn't stop, I press it again. And Again. And a...

_**SPLAT!**_

I wince.

"My God Man! What are you doing?!" Magnusson growls at me, as he walks up.

I turn tail and run to the lockers; locking the locker room door behind me. After a moment, I sigh in relief as Magnusson's enraged yells cease from the other side.

Nova, already in her Orange tinted HEV Suit (without helmet), looks at me with an exasperated expression. "Did you blow up Magnusson's casserole again?"

"In my deffence, It had My name written on it!" I note.

She sighs. "Go suit up, I'll defuse him."

I happily oblige and head for the four HEV suit containers, only one of which contains a suit, MY Suit. It even has my name written on the inside collar.

I open the container and step inside, letting the automated systems place my suit on.

_Welcome to the HEV Mark Four Hazardous Environment...._

I mute the on board system, then meet up with Nova in the hallway.

"Ready to go do some science?" She asks.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

END EPISODE ONE.

**AN: Well, this chapter is just to set up a few minor plot points, get the story rolling, and to introduce the general feel between the characters. If you're confused, Miss Tsuruya in TMoHS was never given a first name, so, in a bit of actor alusion, I've given Tsuruya the first name as one of her voice actress' other rolls. Nova from "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force GO!" As for why Kyon/Gordon Freeman would be the same person, well, I just figured that it would make for some interresting plot devices. ja ne!**

_DTC


	2. It's the End of the world as we know it

_EPISODE TWO._

**ANNON. MATERIALS TEST LAB_ _ _|**

"LASER! Caution." Nova cheers as she reads a pipe that was lineing the wall. "LASER! Caution."

I sigh. How someone can be so cheerfull all the time, I don't know.

"LASER! Caution. LASER! Caution."

Soon enough, after a few more "LASER! Caution." moments, we reach the Anti-Mass Spectrometer's controll room.

"Gordon. Nova." Starts a scientist. "Good to see you two. We've sent the sample down to the chamber."

Dr. Kleiner continues. "We've boosted the Anit-Mass Spectrometer to One hundred five percent."

"Kinda risky." Nova notes.

"But we need the extra resolution."

Eli Vance continues. "Breen is very concerned that we get a conclusive result from today's sample." He frowns. "I understand they went to some lengths to get it."

"We're all counting on you two." Kleiner smiles, before he steps aside to monitor his post.

"Follow me, you two." Eli smiles and leads us over to the door leading to the next chamber. "Now, I'm against this whole endeavor, We can't contain the system for very long at this resolution, but...What Breen wants, Breen gets."

I place my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure this will all go according to plan."

"Regular insertion into ir-regular programming...Just seems to be asking for trouble, if you ask me." Eli sighs, then opens the door for us. "Good luck you two."

We enter the next room, past three chambers of glowing crystals.

Nova pauses. "What are these things?"

"No clue."

A panel on a near by wall explodes, and two scientists rush to contain the damage.

"what is going on with our systems?!" Asks one.

"I have No idea." the other sighs.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." I note as we enter the elevator to the Test Chamber.

"Me too..." Nova sighs.

_*cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

A long hallway later, and we finally enter the airlock for the Anti Mass Spectrometer.

Two scientists greet us.

"I'm afraid we'll be deviating from standard procedure today, Doctors." starts the second.

"Yes, but with good reason, this is the purest sample we've seen yet." continues the first.

"Yet, the most unstable."

"Good reason or not..." Nova starts. "It's a bad idea."

I agree.

"Just follow standard insertion procedure, Gordon; everything will be fine." Says the first.

"I don't know how you can say that! The chances of a Reasonance Cascade are...!"

The first cuts the second off. "They don't need to hear this."

"Yes....you're right..." The second sighs. "Nova, Gordon, we have complete faith in you."

They walk to opposite ends of the chamber, and use the id-scanners to open the main door.

Nova looks to me. "Bad feeling's getting worse."

I nod and walk into the chamber.

Nova follows, and heads to the the balcony on the upper level of the chamber, while I head to the area where the sample of the day will be delivered.

_"Ahem...Testing...Testing..."_Dr. Kleiner's voice. _"Everything seems to be in order."_

Vance speaks up next. _"Gordon, the sample will be delivered in a few moments. Nova, if you'd activate the rotors, we can bring the Spectrometer to Eighty Percent and hold it there until the sample arrives."_

"Gotcha!" Nova calls out as she flips a switch, located near a computer console on the balcony.

The Anti-Mass Spectrometer starts spinning.

_"Very good!"_ Dr. Kleiner laughs. _"We'll take it from here."_

I look up to Nova as the room gains a slight electric charge. "And me without my helmet."

_"Power to Stage one Emitters in...three...two..."_Dr. Kleiner continues.

The room becomes alight with a bright beam of energy.

_"I'm seeing predictable Phasa rays..."_ Vance notes.

_"Stage Two emitters activating...NOW!"_ Dr. Kleiner triggers the next stage of electrons.

Vance speaks up. _"Nova, Gordon, we can't predict how long the system can operate like this...or how long the reading will take place, work as quickly as you two can."_

Dr. Kleiner coninues. _"Overhead emitters to One Oh Five Percent..."_

Eli says something off mic.

_"It's probably nothing...Probably...but I'm..."_Dr. Kleiner pauses. _"Nevermind, it's within acceptable bounds again."_

_"I've just been informed that the sample is ready, Gordon, it should be arriving at any moment now." _Vance sighs. _"Sustaining sequence."_

The nearby fence lowers as the crystalline sample arrives.

Dr. Kleiner sighs. _"Okay, standard insertion for a non-standard sample...Push it into the Beam, Gordon."_

I move onto the track, and push the cart towards the Spectrometer's beam.

Eli continues. _"Nova, be ready for an immediate shut down."_

_"HEY! What's he doing in there!?"_ cries a new voice.

I stop. "what's going on?"

_"Nothing, Gordon. Please continue."_

I sigh. "Here we go...Bad Idea in three..."

Nova laughs. "Two..."

The crystal goes in, and I take a few dozen steps back. "ONE!"

Then, the onion hit the fan.

_**"GORDON! GET AWAY FROM THE BEAM!" **_Dr. Kleiner calls out as the energy beam turns green, and begins zapping all over the chamber.

_"Attempting shut down!"_ Eli calls out.

Dr. Kleiner yells. _"it's Not...IT'S NOT SHUTTING DOWN!"_

Nova slides down the ladder from the balcony and joins me in pounding against the air lock doors.

_"OH NO!"_

One of the energy beams blasts through the window into the control room.

Then...One hits Nova.

I don't have time to react as one hits me as well.

It was black...Pitch black.

Am I...Dead?

Another flash of green, and I'm back in the chamber.

"KYON!" Nova cries out from the other side.

There was another flash of green, and...

...I was standing in some pool with some weird beasts drinking from it's green reflecting surface.

Another flash.

Same world, different area.

Several red eyed, slimy scale-ed humanoid beings with claws surround me.

Another flash.

**SOS BRIGADE CLUB ROOM_ _ _| SEVERAL YEARS EARLIAR_ _ _|**

I hadn't beleived Haruhi's story for real until That December.

Yuki had created a whole new world.

And I didn't like it.

So, here I was, in the SOS Club room, alone, looking out at the falling snow. A seeming metaphor for What had just happened.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." I called.

And in came Miss Tsuruya, her ankle length green hair flowing like a river behind her. "hey Kyon!"

"Mikuru's out of town, which you probably know, Koizumi's got a cold, Yuki's with the computer club." I listed off the other members. "And Haruhi's...off somewhere."

"Well, good thing I'm not here for them." she smiled.

"Oh?" I was confused at that point.

"Well...I just got this new game, and everyone is either not interrestted in games, busy with something else, or is someone I don't know." She holds up a thick CD box with the title "Quarter Life" on it. "And you're the only other person I haven't seen about it...Nyoro..."

I nod. "Okay...I'll play. What's it about?"

Tsuruya smiles. "Well...You play as these two survivors of a monster apocalypse..."

**RUINED TEST LAB_ _ _|**

My eyes snap open to see Nova crying above me.

"Kyon! You're alive nyoro!" she cries in relief, then covers her mouth with her hands. "Sorry..."

I sigh and sit up. "It's okay...People always relapse into old habits when something happens..." I look around the wrecked chamber. "I'd say this certainly qualifies."

Nova nods, and sniffs in her tears. "For a second there, I thought..."

I place my hand on her shoulder. "It's okay."

"The Blast doors are..." Nova starts, then stops, fresh tears anew flowing down from her eyes. "I think my leg's broken."

"Which one?" I ask, sitting up.

"My right." she sighs. "I don't think I can get out of here."

"Don't talk like that." I shift into a position for her to climb onto my back. "We'll find a re-charge unit, and the HEV suit'll take care of the rest."

Nova nods. "Okay..."

As soon as I'm sure Nova's securely holding on, I stand up, leaning against some rubble for some support. Not that I need it.

Slowly, we make our way over to the wedged open blast doors, and climb up and over to the other side...

"Oh my..." Nova gulps.

...Then we find a dead scientist.

"He probably was getting the door open for us..." I guess.

She nods, sniffing. "Yeah...."

The only other door was knocked open by some blast.

On the other side, we found another dead scientist, and one scientist trying to revive a guard.

Neither me, nor Nova, say anything.

We continue down the hallway, pausing only when a computer terminal falls down and explodes.

"Why is everything exploding!!?" Nova shouts.

"Computer glitches, combined with whatever just happened...." I reason as we reach the elevator back to the control room.

A short ride back up, and we find a dead...Dog like creature (I think it was one of the ones drinking in the pool), half buried by a computer terminal, and Dr. Kleiner treating a wound on Eli's...Well...Treating the wound resulting from the lower half of Eli's left leg being torn off by whatever this thing was.

"Why didn't they listen...We tried to warn them...." Dr. Kleiner sighs. "I'd never think I'd see a reasonance cascade...let alone _**CAUSE**_ one!"

Eli looks up. "Gordon! Nova! You're alive! Thank Heaven for those Hazard Suits!"

"Doesn't help so much with a _**broken leg!**_" Nova states.

"Here, Let me help you!" Dr. Kleiner stands up from bandaging Eli's leg.

I let Nova slide back down to the ground.

"Hmm...I think The HEV suit can fix this..." Dr. Kleiner inspects Nova's leg. "The Suit itself seems to have prevented your leg from being mis-placed...Just let me find a med kit..." He stands up and begins searching the room.

I sigh and look at the dead beast. "What is that thing?"

"I have no idea." Eli shrugs, as best as he can. "It looks like some sort of Bull Squid."

"Really? I thought it was A cuthulu dog!" Dr. Kleiner comments as he finds a med kit. "Ah! Here we go!"

I have nothing to say to that.

"Gordon..." Eli Vance sighs. "I need you to get to the surface dormitories. Find some communication's terminal or something...the phones down here are all dead."

I can do that.

"Good...if you find my wife...if you find my daughter...just let them know I'm okay..." Eli continues. "You need to let everyone know that there are still people down here!"

"We'll need to get the surface to do that..." Nova winces as Dr. Kleiner connects the med kit to the HEV's medical port, allowing the suit to use it's medical techniques to heal her leg in an instant.

"Ready to get out of here?" I ask her, holding out my hand for support.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Nova pulls herself to her feet.

"Be careful." Dr. Kleiner advises.

"The controll room's a mess, you'll have to wait for a lapse in the beams." Eli adds.

We walk over to the control room door, and realize one thing.

A blast of green bursts of energy would probably hurt if they explode the computers in the room.

I reason. "Three blasts. Two seconds between...speed module should take care of it..."

Nova takes the first step into the room, then back-flips over and around the energy beams as a test of her recently healed leg.

"Haha!" She grins on the other side of the room. "Beat that!"

"Show off." I roll my eyes, then run through the beams as they dissipate and reappear.

We head our way back through the maze that is Black Mesa.

"So, what happened?" Nova asks.

"A resonance cascade, apparently." I shrug.

"What do you think happened with the rest of the world?"

"It's probably contained here, for now." I reason.

Suddenly, a green glow fills the room, and a small...Face hugger looking creature appears in the center of the room a second after the glow fades.

"What is that?" Nova asks.

"I have no..."

The face hugger jumps at me, but, just falls short due to a piece of the ceiling falling on it.

"...Run!" I cry, and race for the other end of the room. Nova's not one step behind me.

We make it to the Laser tunnel a few seconds later.

And guess what? The Lasers are cutting the tunnel up into chunks.

"Oh...Head Crab in a hat..." Nova curses.

I have nothing to add to that.

"well...Reasonably....We can crawl under this first one...." Nova deduces.

We do so not a second later.

"...But this second one's..."

"ZigZaged?"

"Yeah..."

"Let's just wait for it to make it's path through the floor, and we can run over when it's doing that."

And we did so soon after.

After we passed the lasers, we reached another door.

"Locked." I curse.

"Of course it..." Nova's attention is caught elsewhere. "...Is that a crowbar?"

I look towards a tool box next to the door, left open, and filled with nothing BUT crowbars. "Now...either that's just bad design, or there's a lot of things around here that need breaking open."

I pick one up then toss one to Nova; she swings it with a smile.

"Now what?" She asks.

"We break stuff." I shrug as I lean against the locked door, and lightly tap the crowbar against the glass in it.

The sound of breaking glass is so satisfying.

We crawl through the door, and come to the elevator to the upper levels.

"In case of fire, do not use elevators" says the sign over the buttons.

"No fire." Nova shrugs.

"Safe to use then." I press the button for UP.

_**SOMETHING **_explodes, and the elevator far above us falls down the shaft. It's occupants screaming loudly until the end.

Nova winces as the elevator doors slide open. "SORRY!" She calls out.

"I hope you weren't nice people!"

I sigh.

END EPISODE TWO.

**AN: And here's the End of the World. Now, with the flashbacks, the story will jump around quite a bit; also- does it need to be said?- it's prety clear that anything outside of Black Mesa is a flashback; and if you didn't understand, "Quarter Life" Is oviously Half Life's version of...You get the idea. So, then, anything else need explaining? No? Okay!**

_DTC


	3. CrashingServers and RocketPropelledJeeps

_EPISODE THREE._

**YEARS PAST_ _ _| SOS CLUB ROOM_ _ _|**

"HAHA! Kyon, you sure don't know how to use that thing, do you?" Tsuruya laughs.

I look down at the device in my hands, then over at the girl next to me. "So sue me, My aunt got me a PlayStation, all I know is that controller!"

We were playing a flight simulator CO-OP on Haruhi's 'acquired' computer. Somehow, I kept crashing my fighter jet into a Skyscraper.

On a map that didn't even have one in it.

"Okay okay...So maybe this isn't your style of gaming!" She shrugs. "But I know you'll get the hang of it, Nyoro!"

I narrow my eyes. "Why don't we just go back to the gun slinging? That's a lot easier to understand."

"You're the one who suggested flight simulator three-sixty!" Tsuruya leans back in her chair, while flipping a loos lock of her green hair back over her shoulder.

Yes, and I'm immediately regreting it.

_*cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

**BLACK MESA RESEARCH FACILITY_ _ _| PRESENT DAY_ _ _|**

"I'm kinda regretting playing all those monster smashers back when we were in high school, now..." Nova sighs as we climb up the elevator's maintenance ladder.

"Well..." I take a glance down at her and gulp. Not at her, but at the height of the elevator shaft. That's a long way down... "We didn't mean to kill them. It _was_ an accident."

"I know that Kyon....Gordon!" Nova frowns. "But still...!"

Suddenly, Gun shots ring into the shaft.

"Die you ...THING! Die!" Cries the voice of a security guard.

Strangely in-human cries shriek out as a Glock's ammo enters...something.

I reach the top of the shaft, and prep my crowbar.

I lean out, and with a single swing, the glass doors shatter, allowing me and Nova out onto the main floor of the Lobby.

"Yeah! I got 'im!" The guard reloads his gun as he grins at the dead looking....thing..in...a science coat.

"What are these things...?" Nova asks as she bends down to inspect the dead thing. "Why are they wearing science uniforms?"

The Guard frowns. "They..._**were**_...scientists." Stressing "were" here. Suddenly, more cries come from one of the hallways. The Guard pulls out his gun and fires a head shot.

The zombie like Scientist collapses.

I look at the monster. "Oh...." The face hugger crab like thing we saw earlier was on the poor man's... "Then these really are..."

Nova seems confused still, but the guard nods. "Right, Mister Freeman."

"Best to kill these things first chance we get." I note.

"A head shot'll do it." The guard nods, then tosses me his spare gun. "Go get 'em, Doc!"

I immediately toss the gun over to Nova. "QU-EL-DE-EM." I state.

"Right." She nods, then asks. "Freelander?"

I nod back.

The guard blinks. "Uh....sure....Okay...Just leave the security guard out of the loop here."

**SOS CLUB ROOM_ _ _| YEARS EARLIER_ _ _|**

It was another booring day, or atleast it had been until the Computer club had once again challenged us for their computers.

"We want it all back!" The captain orders.

"OKAY!" Haruhi grins, not even considering the risk due to our beating them twice at Their own game, and Dodge-ball. "We win, you give us a....New Gaming system!"

The club president grins. "And _**when **__**we **_win, You'll buy us a brand new computer, along with retuning the ones you stole!"

"What's the match?" Haruhi asks. "Chess? Rapping? Gymnastics?"

"Oh, nothing either of us can rig." The president gestures to Yuki. "Just a friendly game of Quarter-Life, Death-Match."

I note that everyone else blinks. "Okay, you're on. Two on two."

"KYON!" Haruhi shouts. "What are you doing?!"

"Yes, What ARE you...?" Itsuki asks.

"Two on two. Agreed. Tomorrow at five, Server Two Ten?"

"Agreed." I continue. "Team name?"

"The Computer Empire." The president smirks. "Yours will be _SOS dan_, right?"

"Freeman and Nova." I state.

The smug grin on that computer geek's face falters. "Wh...Wha....?"

"Tomorrow it is."

I sport a rare smile as the computer club withdraws from the room.

"Kyon....What...?" Haruhi blinks.

For a seemingly all-knowing person, you don't know anything about me, Haruhi. "You'll see."

**BLACK MESA_ _ _| PRESENT DAY_ _ _|**

We had made it to the Lobby Room. And everyone was dead.

Literally.

"Why is it that everything inevitably Explodes?!" Nova shouts as a nearby ventilation grate flies off it's hinges.

"I don't know." I sigh in frustration at the locked doors. "Come on, open!" I enter in my ID code to the controls. They beep back at me. "RAH!" I swing my crowbar into it.

A spark, Then, the door's lower half opens.

Nova whistles lowly. "Smooth Move Freeman."

I shrug. "Is there any number of problems one cannot solve by swinging a crowbar at it?"

"I think not!" Nova grins as she hops down the tunnel.

I follow her. "So, what do you think Mikuru would thinking of this?"

"If she were here?" Nova looks back at me as she smashes in the controls for the outer door. "Probably 'This wasn't in the time manual!' or something." She pauses. "Why'd you think of Mikuru first?"

"One." I start as the lower half of the door slides open. "You've known her longer, and Two: I can think up everyone Else's reaction."

We crawl under the door and to the tram railing...

"Hello! Are you waiting for the Tram too?"

...Or what's left of it, anyways.

"Uh..." Nova blinks. "Gordon, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"A scientist standing on a very poorly constructed railing?" I ask.

"yup." Nova nods.

Suddenly, A green spark of energy appears over one of the remaining beams of the catwalk.

It vanishes, revealing what looks like a big piece of ham with three legs.

Before either me, Nova, the Scientist, or the creature can react, the extended catwalk collapses down into the darkness below, taking the creature and the scientist with it.

Nova gulps. "Well, atleast we..."

"Yeah." I nod.

**SOS CLUB ROOM_ _ _| PAST_ _ _| ONE DAY AFTER THE PREVIOUS FLASHBACK_ _ _|**

Miss Nova Tsuruya sat across from me, with one USB cable connecting both of our laptops to a wireless connection server to the Quarter Life Death-Match Servers.

Haruhi raises an eyebrow. "So...while none of us fellow brigade-ers are around, you play games with Tsuruya?"

When you put it that way...

"I didn't know you liked these games..." Mikuru says shyly to her friend.

"Well, We all have our own seperate, Megas cool hobbies, Right?" Nova shrugs, then grins at me. "Ready to bash some computer club keyboards, Gordon?"

Itsuki and Haurhi blink and repeat. "Gordon?"

"that's his character name..." Mikuru points out quietly.

If people around here weren't so dead set on calling me "Kyon" all the time, they might just realize that my in game name was actually my real one. "I'm as ready as you are, Nova."

Five o'clock rolled around, and up poped the game request for a Two on Two match from the computer club.

I roll my neck, then click "accept."

"Let the games begin!"

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

With no-other way out of the facility, we had to resort to vent climbing.

Fortunately, there was a small vent that had just opened itself a minute earliar.

Nova went through the floor level vent first.

Then, I heard something crash and explode, mixed in with something squishing and Nova's starteled scream.

I jump through the vent next, crowbar at the ready, expecting something, ANYTHING other than what was there.

Nova, sitting on the floor, laughing at one of the many fallen server clusters.

"Mind filling me in here?" I ask, finding it not particularly funny.

"Oh man...that was hilarious!" Nova grins as she catches her breath. "One of those crab things was right in front of me, back turned, when I crawled through." She snickers. "It started to turn towards me when BAM! The server _Crashed_ right on it!"

I crack a smile. "That is kinda funny."

A moment of looking around the exploding room later, we find an air vent, leading into the sector B tunnel, which, had we investigated in the first place, seemed to be blocked from the test chamber direction by fallen air vents.

And in Keller's office, Keller is fighting one of the facehugger crab things.

He drops an office cabinet onto it. Crude, but effective.

"Wow...Way to go Ke...!" Nova abruptly stops as another face hugging crab latches onto the man's head.

**SEVERAL YEARS EARLIAR_ _ _| SOS CLUBROOM_ _ _|**

I grin as my character on screen aims his empty RPG launcher into the air, re-directing the Computer Club's own Laser guided missile away from Nova's character, on the other side of the map chamber, and back onto the one remaining computer club member's stash of explosives, which he happened to be standing right on top of.

The groans from the room next door are so satisfying.

Haruhi blinks in delight and confusion as the stats come up, showing that me and Nova had gained a secret achievement. "Match completed at 100% health with no drops and no Health pick ups. NO CHEATS ACTIVATED."

Nova looks at me. "That was just stupid how he didn't even run away when he saw his own rocket coming right at him!"

I shrug, and lean back into my chair. "I guess he didn't think it'd cause a chain reaction." I look over to everyone else in the room. "What...?" I guess their shocked expressions are justified.

Koizumi collapses to the ground, and Yuki just stares on, confused.

Mikuru, however, regains enough composure to start congratulating us. "You two were amazing!"

"I know! Wasn't it awesome how we squished that first guy with a rocket propelled Jeep?!" Nova grins.

Haruhi smiles at me, and for a moment, I get that feeling of her powers, along with her thoughts. _You're the one free man, alright._

The sensation went away, and a moment later, in came the club president.

"How...How did you do it..?" he asks. "How did you get to be so good?"

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

We headed to the sector B airlock with caution. A gunshot had echoed out a moment ago, along with more Zombie like cries.

Nova had been silent ever since we saw Keller get eaten by the, as of now dubbed, "Head Crab" (after the similar creatures in Quarter Life) in his office.

What we found was a dead zombie and a dead guard. Right next to the med kit station.

Nova leans down and closes his eyes, tears brimming in her own. She takes the gun gently out of his hands, and holds it out for me.

I take it with a grimace.

"Rest easy, Solider."

END EPISODE THREE.

**AN: Well, oviously, The Death-Match of their universe is the same Death-Match of our 'verse. Supposedly, Kyon/GordonFreeman and Nova,Tsuruya had been making a name for themselves on the DM servers. And The club president wasn't expecting one of the SOS members to be part of this double team. Anywho: Server. CRASHED. Get it? The Server Crashed. The Server Crashed ON the Head Crab. Get it? Get it?**

_DT


	4. If only it was THAT simple!

_EPISODE FOUR._

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

We walked through the sector B airlock in silence.

A sharp right hand turn, and right into another green spark, with another ham with legs, and dozens of eyes.

It starts humming as soon as it spots us.

_**BANG**_

One shot, it drops.

Nova sniffs. "What if it was a good alien?"

I sigh. "Next one I see, I'll let it live."

Immediately from the T-Section's left side tunnel, another creature.

It hops over to us with curiosity, and oh...it sounds like a little puppy.

"Wow! It's soooo Cute!" Nova goes to pet it.

_**"Brrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnn.....!"**_

It hums, crouches down, and then...

_**BWHAM!**_

"OW!" Nova jumps back in shock from a small sonic burst.

**BANG!**

A bullet stops it from repeating the attempt.

"If they weren't scared..." Nova sniffs, her eyes watering.

Note to self, if we ever get out of this, I'm getting her a dog. A German Shepard. I hear those are nice.

"I'm going to scout ahead." I don't think she needs to see all this death.

"No, we don't split up." Nova regains her composure, and stands up, drawing her handgun. "We never split up."

I nod. "Right."

_*cue Bouken Desho Desho*  
_  
We continue on, down the left path. Why? Because we didn't think to go the other way.

Now, as we continue on, I'd like to point out that these...Hound Eyes...whatever they are, are fast.

But, thankfully, our trigger fingers are faster.

We passed a chamber with several doors marked with the "Poison" symbol. Why they have this in Sector B, I don't know. Regardless, a similar door didn't have this marking.

It's fair to asume that it being blasted off it's hinges by one of those three red eyed creatures from before would happen.

Needless to say, our survival instinct prevented our being fried by it's green electric blasts.

"These things just keep on coming..." I note. "It's like a video game." To enforce my point, I aim my hand gun off to the right, and fire off a round. A glance later confirms a Headcrab's death.

"Yeah, next thing you know there will be a scientist hiding in that dumpster." Nova adds as we walk past the dead headcrab.

Like a jack in the box, a scientist pokes his head out of the dumpster, then dives back in.

I blink.

"And here I was thinking my high-school life was a TV show." I offer as I examine a metal grating that happened to block off a tunnel. "Turns out it's someones game."

Then, a plate in the floor on the other side of the grate opens up, and out crawls a zombie. I give it a head shot before Nova can spot it.

"Hey!" Nova notes a loose plate in the floor next to where I happened to be standing. "This is part of the sewer system! We can get to the surface from here!"

I nod. "Good idea."

"So, do you wanna go first?" Nova asks.

I look to the other side of the grating and sigh. "I'll go."

And so, down I went, into the tunnels below.

Why does this bring back so many memories?

**FESTIVAL THREE YEARS PREVIOUS FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE SOS BRIGADE_ _ _| OUTSIDE A MIDDLE SCHOOL_ _ _|**

The sight of a younger Haruhi actually surprised me.

"So...You're the guy my other self sent?" she asks.

I nod, shuffling Miss Ashahina from by back onto a bench. "That I am."

"Then you know what we have to do." Haruhi closes her eyes, then...

_**Swhap!**_

...Somehow we were on the other side of the fence.

"I'll take left field, you take right." Haruhi orders.

Such a serrious tone from such a young girl seemed odd.

...

"Do you mind me asking how old you are?" I asked when we had about half the school field painted.

"ageless." Haruhi replies. "I thought my other self explained this already?"

"Well, she didn't explain it very well."

"Okay, let's see if you can understand this." the Younger girl starts drawing symbols in the air between us. "There's this hierarchy. The people below Me and my accomplices; then us; then our other selves, looking a bit older; then, a group of unknowns, I haven't met them yet, are above them; then another group, then the bosses."

The drawing looked like a Pyramid.

"Yeah, it's the pyramid scheme from Classified."

Huh?

"It's classified to me. I don't know." Haruhi shrugged.

...

When we finished drawing, Haruhi did something to the drawing to make it glow, then, a closed space formed around us, and quickly engulfed everything.

"A brand new time plane. Your time traveling friend just slept right through it." Haruhi had noted, teleported me outside of the school, and I never saw the younger girl again.

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

I quickly located the valve for flooding the tunnels, and turn it. Oh... Snow Crabs in a hat...

_**glub glub glub**_

...I gasped for air on the other side of the grate.

Nova grins. "Yay! You flooded the tunnel, but you made it!"

I climb out of the tunnel, then lean against the wall.

_**beep**_

The grate raises up just as Nova goes to dive into the water. "Huh?"

I look at where I had leaned up against on the wall, turns out, it was a control for the gate.

"Thanks Gordon!" She smiles and crosses the threshhold .

I sigh, at least she wouldn't have to see that dead zombie floating in the water just below us.

**BACK THEN_ _ _| YUKI NAGATO'S APARTMENT_ _ _|**

I can't beleive I'm doing this.

Setting all of time into motion.

Miss Ashahina yawns. "Why are we at Nagato-chan's apartment...?"

Because I was shown this as what I did by Haruhi a few months ago. "Because she might know how to get us back without your time traveling device."

I press the buzzer.

_"Yes?"_

Yuki's voice seemed much more natural. Not forced.

"Hi, I'm...Kyon..." I grimace, not wanting to set things up wrongly. "I'm here about a certain...Mutual friend."

_"What do you know?"_

"I know that you've been observing her for a long time." I use what I know to my advantage.

The gate before us opens.

_"You may enter._"

I gesture for Miss Ashahina to follow.

One long elevator ride later, and we stood in Yuki's apartment. A lot different from what I first saw.

Also, despite the fact that she looked like she did present day, her clothing options seemed very different than what I expected.

"What information do you have?" She asks in Miss Ashahina's direction.

"Please, it will all make sense if I can explain." One massive info dump, coming right up.

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

We approached a massive freight elevator.

Nova looks down through the gap between the elevator and the wall. "One large trash compactor, coming right up."

I walk up the side ramp, and locate the lever to activate the elevator...Along with a dead guard and some ammo clips.

"Here." I wipe one clean of the blood, and toss it to Nova.

She catches if effortlessly. "Another dead body?" She asks. "Wait. Do I even want to know?"

"no." I pull the lever, then hop over the railing onto the elevator as it starts to move.

Suddenly, Head Crabs start jumping in from above.

"Crowbars at the ready!" I order, bringing mine up.

...It didn't matter. The little face huggers kept overshooting the elevator and falling into the trash compacter below.

As soon as we were close enough to the bottom floor, we jumped off of the elevator and into a swarm of the Head crabs.

Thankfully, they were just about as shocked as we were. And fortunately Nova recovvered first, and dragged me away from the swarm.

Unfortunately, the catwalks leading from the area we were in to the next area were missing.

"What now?" Nova asks, looking back at the incoming Head crabs.

"On the pipes!" I jump up onto the wall mounted pipes; leading by example, Nova follows.

We got to the far corner of the room and stopped to catch out breath, just in time too, as several Head-crabs come down the tunnel to find our not-so-fuzzy orange armored bodies.

"Well...this day couldn't get any better!" Nova sighs.

END EPISODE FOUR.

**AN: Well, this is my least favorite chapter so far. Do you guys know how hard it is to write a GAME into a story? It is. Trust me. Also, the tantanba flashback could have been written better. I just don't see how I can, though. *sigh* One day...One day...**

_DT


	5. That Dynamic Box Smashing Room

_EPISODE FIVE._

**WACDONNALDS_ _ _| SOMETIME AFTER GRADUATION_ _ _|**

Haruhi coughed, loudly. "I here by call this official meeting of the SOS Brigade to an opening!"

Since Tsuruya, Nova, had gotten a job as a waitress at this particular Cafe, We managed to have the whole building to ourselves. Allowing, to everyone's relief, the open discussion of Aliens, Time Travelers, and ESPers. Since that incident with the computer club and the Death-Match tournament, Nova became an official member of the SOS brigade. But, that was a few years ago.

Regardless: moving on...

We (meaning the original group, excluding Miss Ashahina, of course, as she graduated a year earlier) had just graduated High school, and this was Haruhi's way of "passing the torch" to the new members.

"So, as of this day, we senior SOS Brigade members have left High school behind us!" Haruhi says with a slight frown. "Even so, we've all got plans for the future, and I'd like to hear it before we all go off our separate ways!"

Haruhi had never revealed to the other SOS brigade members, excluding Nova (who only found out when I accidentally mentioned it during one of our gaming sessions) and myself, about her true roll in this grand scheme of the universe; I had a feeling she was about to change all that.

"As your brigade leader, I am going to go first by saying: I'm going to start a company while going to college on line! How cool is that?" Haruhi grins.

Koizumi smiles. "A marvelous idea, Miss Suzumiya! May I be so bold as to ask for a spot in your company when you start it?"

Haruhi nods. "You've got it, Vice-executive chief!"

Miss Ashahina, who, despite already attending a community college, decided to join this group one last time, timidly raises her hand in a fashion reminding all of us of when we all started in the SOS brigade. "May I join too?"

"You've got it!" Haruhi's smile continued.

I looked to my replacement in the SOS Brigade- she seemed to be casting worried glances to Haruhi's replacement, and not really paying attention to anything at all.

"What about you, Miss Nagato?" Koizumi asks. "Planning on joining our little coalition?"

Yuki, despite having loosened up over the years, seemed to be as silent as she originally had been when she answered. "No."

Haruhi's smile faltered, but she managed to ask. "Well, why not?"

"I have an internship at Aperture Science in place of my college courses." was her reply.

It was my turn to frown. "You do realize how crazy those folks at Aperture are, right?"

Yuki didn't reply.

I sigh. "Well, Haruhi, all I have planned is MIT, if I can't find a job when I'm done, count me in."

Nova pokes my shoulder, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started. "Hey! I got accepted to MIT too!"

Haruhi sighed. "Well, that's just fine. What about you fine recruits? Will you be joining my little company when you've graduated?"

Her replacement stood up immediately and shouted "YOU BET!" at the top of his lungs before any of the other SOS replacements could say a thing. Oh, yes, I can see where they're ending up in life.

_*Cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

"Well, I can see where we're going in life." Nova said after a minute.

"Where?" I looked at her.

"Around!" She grinned and started climbing around on the pipes. A second or so later, Nova was standing on some metal piping next to the cut off hallway. "ally-oop!"

I watched in horror as Nova jumped off the metal and...

_**Scrunch!**_

...Collapsed onto the the concrete of the hallway.

"NOVA!" I cried out, expecting the worse.

A second later, she started cursing like a sailor while climbing to her feet. "That smarts!"

I sighed, the resigned myself to following her lead.

A moment later, I found myself at Nova's feet, trying to catch my breath.

In a moment, we continued down the hallway, finding, yet again, another broken catwalk.

This time it was at least a not-bottomless pit.

But, there were these weird red things on the ceiling, and a swarm of Head crabs down below being chased by...the cuthulu dog thing. Though, once it dispatched the head crabs, it started shooting green globs of...goo...at us. Thankfully we were at an angle to the thing, so it's blasts just hit the metal grating below us harmlessly.

**BANG!**

Nova shot the shot the cuthulu thing right between the eyes without even looking.

I stare at her incredulously. "You don't like me killing those multi-eyed dogs, but you don't even _flinch_ when it comes to that beast?"

She shrugs. "It didn't sound friendly in the least!"

I sigh, this day was just a bunch of contradictions one after the other.

A glance around the area below us found a stack of crates- we dropped down, and the swam across the rushing green river across the middle of the room.

"This door's open!" Nova notes with a smile on the other side.

And beyond that was a long, twisting hallway that was just wide enough for one person to walk through with barely any clearance between their shoulders and the walls. Oh, and the hallway seemed to be designed to collapse in, and squish whatever was inside.

We had little time to think on this, as we entered a large bottomless pit room, with steel walls, and several crates hanging from the ceiling.

"What. The." I curse.

_**MIT_ _ _| **_**JUST AFTER GRADUATION_ _ _|**

Again, it was that time, and I had to consider taking Haruhi's offer for a job at her, surprisingly successful yet not well known, company.

"Ahhem, Gordon!" Comes the voice of my professor, Doctor Kleiner. "I'm glad I caught you!"

I turn to face him. "What's up?"

"Well, you see..." Kleiner trails off as Nova hops over and gives me the tightest hug I've ever received.

"We finially did it! We've finished school!"

I smile. "Yeah, we did."

Nova then notes Kleiner seeming impatient. "Oh, sorry, you were saying?"

"Well, I just got offered a position at a prestigious research facility, I can take along some of my more...impressive students along on an internship." Dr. Kleiner pauses. "If they do good, they get a full Staff position."

I blink. "Are you offering me a job?"

"Why, Yes, yes I am." Kleiner nods.

I noticed that Nova, who still hadn't let go of me, had tightened her fists, and that there were tears starting to brim in her eyes.

I take this moment to say: "I'm not going unless Nova joins me."

Dr. Kleiner seemed taken back by this. "Well...I said my Best students, Gordon, I meant as in Above standard...But..." One look into Miss Tsuruya's eyes, and he caved. "...I suppose...I..."

I swore, Nova must have taken lessons from Miss Ashahina at some point, as she started shaking slightly.

"Oh, all right, you both can come!" Kleiner sighs as Nova returns to a normal state.

"Thank you Doctor Kleiner! You won't regret it!" Nova then releases me, and shakes his hand viciously.

**PRESENT_ _ _| BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

"I'm beginning to regret this!" Nova cries out as she jumps onto the one of many crates suspended from the roof of the pit.

I look back to her from the safety of a ledge at the crate smashing track and sigh. "So long as they don't decide to move, You'll be fine."

"Yeah...right...until the cable snaps and kills me! And then the spikes at the bottom tear me to pieces! Then the incinerator turns on and...!" Nova's rambling silences as I fire off a round into the chamber below. The echo alone magnifies the sound a dozen times.

"Nova. Just. Climb." I order as I put my gun back into it's holster.

**HAZARD COURSE_ _ _| SEVERAL MONTHS AGO_ _ _|**

"Nova. Just. Climb." I order as I watch my friend through the observation window.

She nods, and gives a thumbs up.

Box smashing room. I hated this going through it on my own, but watching someone else? Twice as hatefull.

Nova jumps from the last crate to the exit and grins when she lands.

**PRESENT_ _ _|**

Nova jumps from the last crate towards me, and grins once she lands.

"See, that wasn't so hard." I start.

"Right..." Nova replies as she catches her breath.

with no hesitation, we continue along the path way, up a ladder, around another pathway, and then, we were on the other side of the room.

"All that work...For this?!" Nova sighs.

"It's official. We should havve gone to Aperture." I sigh, and turn towards the elevator at the end of the hallway.

"Yeah, I bet Yuki's just having a blast with these Aliens!" Nova says sarcastically as she presses the "UP" Button.

**APERTURE LABORATORIES_ _ _| GENERAL POV_ _ _|**

Nagato, Yuki, sat there, curled up against a white painted wall, her white lab coat was stained crimson, and the broken Prototype Portal Gun in her arms. Before her rested the Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System computer, who had just recently tried to kill all the employees with a deadly nuro-toxin, that is, until Yuki had sacrificed a broken leg to put in a morality core that stopped the mad computer. "I knew putting in core Four first was a bad idea." She sighs and thinks back to her friends in the SOS brigade, first and foremost, Kyon.

"I knew I should have gone to work at Black Mesa." Yuki sighs.

END EPISODE FIVE.

**A.N.: A Small, hint at the future there at the end. I actually like this chapter a lot. Though, I think the first flashback could have gone better, it's getting to the point where I'm starting to make my own path with this.**

_DTC


	6. The Ranting Machine Guns CouldBeABand!

_EPISODE SIX._

**BLACK MESA CAFETERIA_ _ _|**

"Finally! Food!" I sigh as the elevator doors open outside the main Cafeteria doors.

I frown as the first thing I see is a dead body being dragged through a hole in the ceiling.

"Apparently the building is as hungry as you are." Nova comments wryly.

An explosion to our immediate left catches out attention.

Looking that way reveals a hanging power cord from the ceiling a ways down, along with several head crabs.

"Woah! Look at that!" Nova grins as a spark of electricity fries a face hugger.

"Nice." I smile as the wire continues to make popcorn out of the head crabs.

_*cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

"Black Mesa: Work harder, not smarter." I read a wall mounted sign.

"Yeah, that's us all right." Nova nods as she goes to the cafeteria doors. "HEY! You in there! Open up!"

I glance through the windows, and spot a scientist being dragged into the ceiling by some sort of rope tentacle.

I look around the immediate hallway for a way into the cafeteria. I'm starving!

And salvation presents itself with an air vent.

A quick climb later, and we enter the cafeteria.

"Gordon! Nova!" cries a scientist at the opposite corner of the room. "Had I known it was you two, I'd have let you in!"

"We're heading for the surface." Nova starts.

"Someone is bound to come down here to rescue us!" the scientist starts.

I growl. "No-ones coming unless we go and get them." And I go to find something to eat while Nova convinces the scientist to come with us.

I find a cockroach infested vending machine, and a door marked "High Voltage."

I go for the door.

Of course, there's a box marked "EMERGENCY RATIONS" right inside an electrified box.

I find the power switch, turn it off, and remove the rations.

"Circa Nineteen Forty." I read. "Well, this is nice..." I discard the rations and return to the cafeteria.

"hey! The bug zapper down the hall turned off, what'd you do?" Nova asks.

"I rescued emergency rations several decades old." I reply.

So, we leave the scientist, who still believes that soldiers will come and rescue us, and head past the fried bugs.

Nova growls as, once more, the door is locked. "We went though _**that**_ for a locked door?!"

Out of anger, she slams her crowbar into the glass window next to the door, shattering it.

"That works." I comment before we climb through the window.

Right next to us is a lab, with it's window pre-smashed, allowing us access into it's electrified watery contents.

"That's just in case those doors are locked." Nova points to the double doors just across from us. "That should get us to the surface."

The doors were...you guessed it...locked.

"Into the water death trap we go." I sigh.

...

After a quick encounter with electrified water, several head crabs inside air vents, and a collapsing fake ceiling, we managed to get to the other side of the locked doors.

"This locked door thing is getting real old." nova frowns. "Real quick, too."

I sigh as I push a large metal box into another hole in the fake roof, where two (now dead) head crabs had fallen through.

"I mean, really! It's a WORK DAY! Who locks doors on a WORK Day?!"

I place a smaller crate next to the box, and use it as a step ladder.

"How much do you want to bet that Aperture doesn't lock it's doors on employees?!"

I pause as I climb into an open air vent. "They probably have puzzles to open them in case they do."

"Suuure they do! Way to go Black Mesa!" Nova sighs as I pull her up into the vent.

"I mean, could it HURT them to give keys to the employees?" Nova asks, un-noticing as I smash open an air vent into another room.

_**KREEEEEE!!!!!**_

A quick burst of gun fire from somewhere to my right forces me back into the air vent.

__Are you still there?__ Comes a chipper kid-like female voice. __Hello?__

"Of course I'm still here, Gordon! I've been ranting for the last few minutes! Haven't you noticed?!" Nova growls and continues on with her rant. "Or have you decided to go all silent on me?"

I risk a glance outside the air vent, quickly spotting a small, white, egg shaped, three legged turret with a single laser red eye sitting right at a broken window.

__I see you!_ _It fires off a few quick bursts at me, before I duck back into the vent.

"Aperture!" I curse. Those turrets were invented at Aperture Science for Military use! Why was one here at Black mesa?!

"Yeah! Aperture is just great! I mean, they're just so...! So...! So NOT Black Mesa!" Nova growls. "This place just really went down hill ever since _**BREEN**_ took command!"

__Could you come over here?__

I sigh. No, Miss Turret, I'm not coming over there.

"And another thing: WHY are these airvents just so big enough for us to fit inside them comfortably?!"

__Can we be friends!?__

I ready my Glock, then dive down into the room below.

__There You are!_ _the turret starts firring.

I dive behind a crate, then dive out again, firing off several rounds into the White device.

__OW!OW!OW!OW!OW!OW!_ _A lucky shot hits one of the three legs on the turret, knocking it off balance, and sending it crashing into the floor. __No hard feelings...__

It powers down.

"Agreed."

END EPISODE SIX.

**A.N.: HEY! A Double Update! How about that?! Now, a quick little explanation: Aperture Science developed those cutesy little turrets for Military opperations. I mean, How can you NOT feel bad for disabeling those poor turrets?**

Also, I set up Nova's little rant last chapter, mostly because I thought that anyone in this kind of situation would get annoyed at their company for locking doors on a WORK day. Plus, years of playing through video games with similar experiences of locked doors and un-jumpable fences would certainly add to the annoyance factor. There WAS going to be a flash back this chapter, but, I felt that it was a bit un-necessary to the overall plot.

Happy New Years Everyone!

_DT


	7. Nothing's colder than a cold meat locker

**EPISODE SEVEN.**

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

_Guwaarruuuu...._

Another dead head crab fell down the stairs.

I looked over to Nova, she was ranting to herself now, which...was better? I think.

I sigh, and pull her up the stairs until she starts moving of her own accord.

"Hey, Doctor Freeman." A Security Guard calls. Ah, that explains the dead crabs.

"Hey." I nod.

"Yeah, I took care of those head-jumpers up a head, so, yeah..."

"Thanks." I smile, then pull Nova down the hall way.

_*Cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

"GRAAAHHHH!!!"

I wince as I pull an office door close again. Those Idiots. They crawled right into the fan Blade. On High.

Nova, thankfully, was busy relieving stress on some of the zapper aliens that had come down the hallway.

I look back into the office quickly, wishing the two scientists good luck, then turn back to Nova.

"Eh...?"

...And she's gone.

_"DIE YOU SWAMP DWELLERS!" __**bang bang**_

I sigh in relief, she'd just gone ahead.

It was nice to not be the one doing a lot of the killing for a change, then I note the green metal shackles on the zappers as I step by.

Oh, that's not good.

I hurry my pace down the hallway, just following the dead path of monsters.

"follow the dead body road, follow the-" I stop myself. Just where did that come from?

Haruhi, most likely, it sounded like something she'd say.

**FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

"Kyon, do I have to explain?" Haruhi seemed annoyed, and thoroughly happy at the same time. "You just follow the trail of bread crumbs!"

_***flash***_

"Look, Mikuru, if we want to get more members, we have to get their attention first!"

"And wh-what d-d-does th-this have to do with m-m-m-me wearing a s-swims-suit?

**_*flash*_**

"Hey, Koizumi! Can you hand me that socket wrench?"

"er, which one again?"

"The one with rust stains!"

"Oh...Okay...!"

**END FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

I step through a doorway just to be drenched in blood and guts.

Then, Nova falls on top of me.

"Ow..." I groan. One Hard Tech Suit does not stop another identical suit.

"Sorry, Ky...Gordon." She seemed relatively back to normal now. "One of those rope jelly things grabbed me."

"I just hear a secure access transmission!" A scientist came skipping down a nearby staircase. "Soldiers have come to rescue....!" She trailed off upon spotting the awkard position we were in. "Er...Am I interrupting?"

"No. Not at all." Nova and I said simultaneously.

Then, I heard the voice.

__I see you!__

The scientist got gunned down, half way down the stairs.

Nova gulps, then dives off of me into a nearby trashcan.

Suddenly, the Turret starts shooting randomly above us, more Zappers gurgle before they croak, and more head crabs come soaring down from above us.

Then, The turret came flying down after them.

__I DON'T BLAME YOOOOUU!!!__

It crashed into the stairs, then terminated.

"What...?" Nova peaks out of the barrel.

"Hey!" A Security guard comes down the stairs. "What are you two still doing here? Get topside!"

**SOS BRIGADE_ _ _| FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

"What are you two still doing here?" Haruhi's voice cut through the deep sleep that I had drifted into.

I looked up, around, then noticed Tsuruya-san...Nova... sitting up from a similar position I had just been in, sleeping face first into the table.

"Kyon, You were supposed to lock up last night!" Haruhi scolds. "NOT Play games all night until you fall asleep!"

Tsuruya...Nova...Rubs the sleep out of her eyes like a yawn, then asks "What time is it, Nyoro?"

"One hour until first class." Nagato comments as she enters the room.

"Morning Yuki." Haruhi smiles, then returns to glare at us.

I sware, I was never more cold in my entire life than at that point.

**BLACK MESA_ _ _| MEAT LOCKER_ _ _|**

I take that back. I was NOW More cold than I had ever been in my whole life.

"Why do we even have this big of a meat locker?" Nova asks.

How I would have replied to that, I do not know, as a Scientist runs past us, leading a Head crab, and a...Bull Squid... Behind him.

A quick burst of gun fire puts both creatures down.

"I'm almost out." Nova notes.

"Same here." I nod, then look at the cowering scientist. "Oi, is there any way out of here?"

With no comment, We took the next sensible route, exploring the chamber, finding what ammo we could (among such included several clips and a HAND GRENADE, which I gleefully withheld from Nova), then crawl into an air vent.

It's amazing how Maze like these vents are.

Soon, we came out into another stair well like the one before, only this one wasn't armed with a turret gun.

However, it did have a zombie, two security guards, and a scientist fleeing for his life.

_**Bang Bang!**_

_Gurgle..._

The zombie died, and up the stairs we climbed.

Nova growls as we find a hallway leading towards an elevator and, surprise, yet another locked EXIT Door. "Why does this keep happening?"

"I don't..." I get that Darker-Haruhi-Chill, and then I spot _**that**_ man on the other side of the door. FIXING HIS TIE.

He turns and walks off.

"Did you see...?" I start.

"Yeah." Nova nods. "I did."

So, we head towards the Elevator shaft.

Suddenly, a Scientist dives out a nearby window and duck rolls out of it.

Then, two zombies dive after him.

Nova draws her gun, then shoots both zombies point blank in the head.

The Scientist, however saved and still alive, collapses from exhaustion.

As Nova looks over the man, making sure he's all right, I look into the room he came from, and immediately note TWO more grenades, a box of ammo for....

I grin. Today just got a lot better.

Shotgun Better.

END EPISODE SEVEN.

**A.N.: Weeeell...This COULD have gone better. I was rushing, and I just did NOT Want to write those stair cases. "They went up staircases and fought monsters." Yeah... Also, I thought it would be nice for Nova Tsuruya-San to do some of the fighting for a change. Now, why did Gordon/Kyon keep the grenades away from Nova Tsuruya-san? Well, you'll see in the "Blast Pit" chapter of Half-Life. *grins***

Regarding the flash back, I have it basicly at a point in Kyon/Gordon's life where she tells him to drop the formality, hence the conflicting name changes mid thought. Also, I needed a place to skip over the "head crabs falling from the sky" room without notice. I just could not figure out how to get it together.

I'll take this moment to note how hard it is to write a game into a story format. Games are scripted, in sequence. They have order. Writing that, along with the changes of extra dialogue and characters, is very hard to do. I do my best, and I have my hit and miss moments. Some chapters are easy hits, others are misses. This is somewhere inbetween.

Hopefully, When I start on the Half Life 2 arc of the story, It'll be somewhat easier to write, as I can linger around an area and get a feel for it, where as with the Black Mesa area, I'm using the Freeman's Mind episodes for footage of the game, which I don't have.

So, until next time..._Ja ne!_


	8. Who in the world is the HECU?

_**EPISODE EIGHT.**_

**SEVERAL YEARS AGO_ _ _| AFTER SCHOOL_ _ _|**

"Come on...You Can do this, Nyoro..." A voice caught my attention as I walked past the Gymnasium on my way to the SOS Brigade club room. I knew that voice.

With a sigh, I open the door and enter the room, not expecting what was in there.

Miss Tsuruya, still dressed in her gym outfit, was hanging onto a rope, nearly half way to the top. Miss Asahina, back in her regular school uniform, was standing near the bottom, looking rather afraid for her friend.

"T-tsuruya-San...!" She squeaked. "Class is over. You can come down...!"

I blinked. As far as I knew of Miss Asahina's schedule, her last class for the day, which apparently today was Gym, had ended over two hours ago.

"What's going on?" I asked, and walked over towards the rope.

"kyon-kun!" Miss Asahina jumped slightly, but beamed at my presence. "Tsuruya-san won't come down...!"

"I Can't!" Miss Tsuruya cried from above. "I can't megas fail! I-I Can't...!" She started sniffing.

I looked up towards the girl's hands, bright red from griping onto the rope for who knows how long, then sighed. "How long has she been up there?"

"Since the teacher said she failed this class."

_*Cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

**BLACK MESA_ _ _| ELEVATOR SHAFT_ _ _|**

I have to ask. Really. "WHO DESIGNED THIS ELEVATOR SHAFT!?!"

Seriously, there was no ladder next to the door. But, there was a Ladder across the shaft. Yes, across the shaft. Oh, sure, there were supports along the walls that I could walk on, if only there weren't just three rows, all of which were ABOVE The ladder I was about to jump to. Oh, and it wasn't just ONE ladder going up to the top, it was a Cutes and Ladders system. One going up from no-where, bars on either side, a ladder on another side, then another set of bars, another ladder, and then one more set of bars before...Nothing. Just the ladder hanging off of the elevator stuck in the middle of the shaft.

"I hate you Black Mesa. I hate you SO Much." I grumble, then make a leap of faith accross the shaft.

"GORDON!" Nova cries out as my suit makes contact with the ladder. Thank Haruhi that these HEV Suits have a slight internal magnetic charge, or else I would have fallen to my death before I could regain my wits to grab onto the ladder.

"That was stupid..." I grumble, then look up to the elevator, where the scientist we had rescued from the zombies was hanging onto the ladder. Well, if someone as un-trained as he was in Hazardous environments could get up THAT Far, I sure as well could.

So, Up I climbed, simple enough, but, upon my reaching the second ledge, it was Nova's turn.

"I don't want to do this Gordon..." She starts. "You remember how bad I was in P.E...."

I sigh. Yes, of course I remember.

**FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

By now, the whole SOS Brigade was gathered around the rope. Haruhi had gotten worried when two of her members were M.I.A., and decided to investigate. They didn't have to look far.

"Well, I can honestly say, she's determined." Koizumi started, noting how Miss Tsuruya was now three fourths of the way up the rope. "It may have taken an hour, but she is determined to reach the top."

"And that's not including the time we weren't here!" Haruhi noted with glee, then shouted. "COME ON TSURUYA! SHOW THAT ROPE WHO'S BOSS!"

Miss Tsuruya looked down, then immediately regreted it, clinging even tighter to the rope, and shutting her eyes.

I sighed. Haruhi, you need to learn a little something called "tact."

**END FLASHBACK_ _ _|**

I sigh. "Look, I know it's not ideal, but you can do it. It's not a rope. It's a ladder."

"I. HATE. LADDERS!" Nova cries out.

_Yare yare...._ "Just imagine we're back on the 'cathalon course. Just Holograms and foam mats."

"I FLUNKED THA...ah...Actually...I didn't, didn't I?" There we go. "Okay! I can do this!"

**FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

Miss Tsuruya was almost to the top. Good, it was now...by my estimate, three hours after final bell.

Then, Haruhi asked the one question I forgot to ask. "Why is she doing this again, Mikuru?"

"Well...It's..." Miss Asahina paused. "Complicated."

"We've got time." Koizumi smiled. Send him to hell. Miss Tsuruya did not need to hear all this THAT High up.

"Well..." Miss Asahina started. "We were taking our finals in P.E. today..."

"I got that part!" Haruhi interrupted. "What happened?!"

Miss Asahina jumped a little, then continued. "T-The teacher said t-that if we f-failed this class, we would get held b-back a year."

"Regardless if we were doing well in other classes, correct?" Koizumi asked.

"H-hai." Miss Asahina continued. "The Teacher held an o-obstical course, With Rope being the last event."

"So, Tsuruya...failed?" Haruhi asked.

"Hai." Miss Asahina lowered her head.

**BLACK MESA_ _ _| OUTSIDE THE ELEVATOR SHAFT_ _ _|**

"Ah, Solid ground, how I missed thee!"

I grimaced as Nova started kissing the ground.

"Okay, enough of that..." I pull her up before she swallows a cockroach or something.

The Scientist had wandered down the hall a little bit earlier, but was now running back, and pounding on a security station window. "FOR GOD'S SAKE! OPEN THE SILO DOORS!"

I took a glance into the room, and noticed a Security guard wresteling with a zombie.

"Yeah! Punch it!" Nova cries.

Then, the zombie pulls the guard down into an air shaft.

_**BANG! BANG!**_

A splatter of blood hits the visible side of the vent. "Oh...that's not good."

Then, I noticed the scientist had gone missing. For Crying out loud...Can't anyone stay PUT For a change?

I glance over to Nova, now trying to smash in the glass of the station with her crowbar to get to...a shot gun. Well, she's sufficiently occupied, I'll go find the scientist.

I head off in the only possible direction he could have gone in, straight ahead and to the right, as the "SILO D" Door to the left is closed. I soon spot the scientist's body, collapsed against a wall with several bullet holes in his body.

__hello? Are you still there?__

Then, I spot the sweeping red laser.

Turrets!

Okay, I'll have to disable it first before dragging Nova through here and away from that Shotgun. No way am I letting her anywhere near mine.

So, I charge down the tunnel, and duck beneath a large stack of boxes, only one of the turret's stray shots grazed my shoulder.

I note, out of the corner of my eye, a dead solider. And a mess of dead head crabs.

Then, another one teleports in.

__HELLO!__

_**KREEEEEEEE....!!!**_

The face hugger bites the dust.

So, that's why the soldier is dead. A head crab teleported in above him, and then the Turret shot at him!

I sigh, then lean out from where I was hiding, and shoot the turret dead center in the eye.

__OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!__ It falls over, and shuts down. __Critical Error__

I get up, then walk over to the solider, noting his choice weapon is an MP5. I carefully pull off his dog tags, and read them off. _"Cameron, Aaron, Corporal, H.E.C.U."_

What in the world does H.E.C.U. mean?

**FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

I was walking miss Tsuruya home, after the day's events, mostly for the comfort of having someone to talk to, as Miss Asahina was on the opposite side of town, Haruhi would be too questioning, Koizumi would be TOO talkative, and Nagato...You get the picture.

"So..." I started after two minutes of silent walking.

"So?" she replied after a second.

"Want to talk about it?"

"...No."

"Okay then." And that was why I was walking her home.

END EPISODE EIGHT.

**A.N.: I bet some people were wondering why Nova/Tsuruya was held back a year, as mentioned in the...Other...chapter. This is why, I'd think. Mostly, this was for flashback, but, it also sets up the soliders' presence/invasion/cover-up/what-have-you. Also, I wanted to establish why Tsuruya/Nova came to Kyon/Gordon back in the first (second?) Chapter's flashbacks. I'm actually supprised most of the Red Underline in the spell check are the Names I know are spelled correctly. Crazy, right? If you know where we are in game, that's great! You know what's comming, to a degree. As I'm getting closer to the current stopping point of "Freeman's mind" files saved on my computer, I'm thinking of also doing the Half Life 2 game as a story as well, and if I do that, I might do the episodes (in different POV's) and Portal (Clearly in Yuki's POV). So, If you see "The Resistance of Gordon Freeman" in the near future, that will be HL2 in this story.**


	9. Elevators are my sworn enemy!

_Episode Nine._

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

"Why did you pull me away from that shot gun?" Nova commented after we had limboed around a maze of lasers, and climbed onto a pile of boxes. "Or better yet, why not give me yours, since you have that MP5!"

Oh, dear, sweet, MP5. Is there any problem you can not solve?

The next task before us was a slippery floor, with the strange slippery liquid pouring down into an opened elevator shaft.

Oh, and there are a couple of wall mounted laser beams that would probably explode upon contact.

I moved first, jumping towards the far wall, to avoid the laser beam.

"Hello!" cried a voice, very suddenly, nearly making me lose my balance on the slippery floor.

I turn to glare at two scientists, standing in between two white, deactivated turrets.

"I'll stay here." One comments as I carefully slide over to the nearest turret.

"Yes, you do that!" I harshly whisper, then grab the turret (springing it to life, with a cutesy __Could you please put me down?__ I might add) and toss it down the elevator shaft.

__DOMO ARIGATOOOOOOO.....!__

I never heard the thud.

"Do you know who ate all the doughnuts?" Asked the other scientist. I glared at him as I grabbed the other turret (replying with an annoyed __hey!__) then tossed it down the shaft.

Nova slid down the hall after me. "uh...who are these guys?"

"No clue, but the turrets weren't firing at them." I replied.

"I never suspected such things could be!" the one stated in reply.

"Ah..." I had no clue what to say next.

_*Cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

"They're ghosts!" Nova deduced after a minute. "That's why the turrets weren't firing!"

"Or maybe they're holograms?" I ponder, poking one (resulting in a "Someone's stolen my glasses again!" remark).

Then, I get that chill again. With a frown, I walk past the two scientists, spotting _**HIM**_ standing on a walkway some ways up.

_**HE**_ fixes _**HIS**_ tie with a smirk, then walks away.

I growl, then race around the mazes of boxes and explosive lasers, up ladders and boxes, only to reach the area that _**HE**_ had been at only to find _**HIM**_ gone.

I look around, the run down the hallway, towards a stair case. _**HE**_isn't there, but a scientist running towards a solider IS.

"Thank God! Rescued at La---!"

_**BRRRRRMN!!!**_

The solider guns the scientist down.

I gasp, and the solider turns his aim at me.

_**BANG!**_

Then, he collapses, a bulled lodged in his head.

I turn as Nova puts her hand on my shoulder. "They're not here to rescue us."

"I gathered as much." I grumble, and head down the stairs, to check the man's dog tags. _"Li, Cameron, Corporal, H.E.C.U."_

"What's this Hecu thing?" Nova asks.

"I have no clue."

**FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

I hate elevators. Officially, this is the day when I proclaim Elevators as my sworn enemy.

My mom and dad and had taken me and my little sister to Tokyo Tower, only to find it unbearably hot on the top, due to a lack of air conditioning, so we headed down again. That was when the power cut, trapping us at least half a mile from the ground. Whatever was happening outside was certainly LOUD.

When we got home later that day, people had claimed to see a mirage, caused by the heat, that looked like giant animals, dinosaurs, and metal men fighting on the tower. One of the many events that got me interested in the supernatural.

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

I still hate elevators. This one, for instance, dropped us off on the ground floor (not really, I wish) of a Slaughter house. Solders everywhere, shooting scientists on sight.

I couldn't stand to watch, so I pulled out a grenade.

Cue double explosion.

Nova looks towards me curiously. "You had GRENADES?!"

"What I want to know is why that one guy just killed his friends with them." I honestly replied while putting my unused grenade back into it's pocket.

Thankfully, we didn't have long to wonder about it, as we found the elevator labled "Surface Access."

As we rode up, I briefly wondered if elevators had stopped hating me for a change.

The soilders, appachies, and BOMBS outside told me otherwise.

"WHY ARE YOU SHOOTING AT US?!?!" Nova shouted as a group of solders started shooting at us. "WE'RE NOT ALIENS!"

Then, laser blasts from the blood red sky kill the group shooting at us.

"Nova, I think a better question is why are they shooting at each other?"

END EPISODE NINE.

**_AN: Okay, Short chapter here, but, I'd like to address a few reviews in the mean time._**

**_Firstly, Yuki won't die, mostly for the fact that in this alt. verse, she is the "God" even if she doesn't know it; Also for the fact that I've got a Portal story, in this same universe, going through Portal with Yuki in place of Chell, although, it won't be as clear cut as that._**

**_Secondly, Yuki and Kyon won't meet THIS story, because of the above mentioned Portal story this is still Twenty Years before the events of Portal, and, also, if/when they do meet, it won't be until Half-Life 2 Episode Three, and, since that isn't out yet, I don't know how it goes, crossover wise; If there's GLaDOS in it, or if you get a Portal gun, or if you come across Chell, I just don't know. It's a slight missing gap in the story plan, But, Hopefully, I'll have EP3 played through enough times by the time I get to that point in story._**

**_Lastly, everyone, Thanks for the comments! _**

**_The next chapter will have a small recap, as we begin Day Two/End Day One of the Cascade._**

**__Dimension-Traveler Calumon, Uru Explorer_**


	10. We're all allright, we're all allright!

_Episode Ten._

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

"BAKA BAKA BAKA!" I curse my stupidity as I race across the storage facility on the surface of the complex known as Black Mesa. Why am I doing this?

_**BRUUUW! BRUUUUW! BRUUUUUW!**_

_**BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!**_

The Military is not only shooting at us with guns, but they are also shooting at eachother with Laser like bombs!

Oh? Why am I running? Because my partner in escape, Nova Tsuruya, spoted a small bunker on the other side of the field, which could possibly provide shelter from the crazy Military, and decided to make a run for it.

So, here I am. Gordon Freeman. Known as "Kyon" Back in high-school, which, would you beleive it, I was friends with an ESPer, an Alien, a god, and a Time Traveler. Koizumi, Itsuki; Suzumiya, Haruhi; Nagato, Yuki; and Asahina, Mikuru respectivly. Although, when I first found out about their rolls, I was told Nagato was the alien, and Haruhi was the god. We were all part of a "Save the world by Overloading it with excitement, Suzumiya Haruhi Brigade," or "S.O.S. Dan" for short.

See, my life has become some twisted thing of fate. Ever since I was little, things have never gone right for me. First the incident on Tokyo Tower when I was Six, then Haruhi durring High school, Now Black Mesa, present.

"GORDOOOOON!" Nova cried from the bunker, having reached it. I pick up my pace, not wanting to get left behind.

The one constant in my life since high school has been this girl with green hair. Tsuruya, Nova. She's from this rich family, or was, atleast. Back In high school there was an incident in Gymnastics, leading to her failing a year and being held back, resulting in her family baisicly "banishing" her from the family fortune. Nova joined the SOS Brigade, and we became close friends over very strange video games. Good thing too, Otherwise I don't think we would have survived ANY of today- has it really been one whole day already?- to this point.

I dive into the bunker, grab ahold of a ladder, and slide down into a tunnel just before the laser bombs hit dangerously close to the shelter.

Nova grins at me. "See, Gordon? I knew this was a good idea!"

"The only thing down here is 'Vent Access', do we really need more vent crawling?" I ask.

"Oh yes! Especially since we can get back into that security office with the Shot gun!" Oh, that grin on her face. One thing I've learned about Nova over the years is that she LOVES weapons of mass destruction. Be they MP5s, Shotguns, Grenades, RPGs, You name it, it will probably explode something in the near future.

"You took that MP5 off of that one soilder a while ago, and you still want a SHOTGUN?" I ask.

"Well, you have one, so I want one too!" was her reply. I sigh. This is going to be another long day.

_*Cue Bouken Desho Desho*_

**SOMEWHERE IN THE AIR VENTS_ _ _|**

_"*krrrk* I just killed twelve dumb-old scientists and not one of 'em fought back. This day's just getting better and better! Hahaha...*krrrk*"_ a soilder below us started.

I can't beleive these "H.E.C.U." soilders, they're ENJOYING Killing people!

Nova takes the easy route, grab a grenade from my pocket, pull the pin, and drop it through a hole in the grating.

_"*krrk* Hey! What's that? *krrk*"_ one asked.

_"*Krrk* Oh..Shi---!"_

_**BAM!**_

I look over my shoulder to Nova, who's now grinning like that chesshire cat. "Nicely done. But next time, don't steal my grenades."

"Sorry, Gordon. But they were just rubbing me the wrong way!"

And who doesn't?

So, back to crawling around in dusty air vents.

"You know...I bet Aperture doesn't have air vents like these." Nova mused randomly. "I bet they've got little robots that crawl around and clean everything!" I blinked. "I want one of those little 'bots right now!"

Then, we heard familiar voices.

"I predicted all of this, you know. All of it!"

"Do you know who ate all the doughnuts?"

Those two scientists.

We avoided that branch of the ducts with a vengence.

Then, Nova grinned as she peered through a vent. "I see Silo D!" She looked back to me. "We're close!"

Sure enough, next vent we entered, there was that splotch of blood.

Nova dived through the vent with a cry of "SHOTGUN!!"

I crawl out into the office, then spot a scientist in the opposite corner of the room as Nova starts cradeling the shotgun and naming it "Donna Noble" or "The Doctor" or some such thing.

I decide to not question her sanity, and turn to the scientist.

"So much for the Military rescue!" he starts before I get a word out. "Their idea of 'containment' is to kill everyone associated with the project!"

I frown. "Yeah, that's bad."

He continues on as if I didn't say a thing. "Judging from your Hazard suits, I'd say you were part of what went wrong."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"Look, if there's anyone who can end this mess it's the science team at the Lambda complex on the other side of the building! with the transit system out, I couldn't tell you how to get there, but there's an old de-comissioned rail system somewhere through here..." But you just did tell me! "...If you can make it through the old rocket test labs, you might be able to get to whatever's left of the lambda team!" At my questioning look, he adds. "You can trust them. You can trust us all."

I go to punch him, when a shot gun goes off.

The scientist flees, and I glare at Nova, now staring proudly at the hole in the bullet proof glass. "Wow, that's powerfull." she looks towards me. "How come my crowbar didn't make a dent?"

"Bullet proof on one side only." I gently tap the other, intact window, shattering it. "The joys of Black Mesa."

"Oh, right." Nova grins, then presses a bunch of buttons on the consol near by randomly. "So, what was he saying again?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I spy the Silo D door opening. "Just another seemingly random quest."

**PAST_ _ _|**

"Random question." Haruhi had asked at the start of one of the meetings. "What's the one thing that hero's always have to do?"

Miss Tsuruya...Nova... raised her hand immediately. "You have to fullfill random, seemingly unrelated quests inorder to accomplish your main goal!"

Haruhi grined. "Exactly! So, what do we have to do inorder to find a hero?"

I sighed as Koizumi replied. "We have to find who-ever hands out the random quests, correct?"

"Exactamundo!"

**PRESENT_ _ _|**

I watch in amusement as Nova plows through the wooden barrier before us with her shotgun. She didn't even realize in her gun-hyped state that she had also killed a...Cuthulu dog?...Bull Squid?...Acid spitter?...whatever, one less monster to kill.

"Okay, so the controlls are up there..." I point up a near by ramp to a controll unit. "I'll summon the lift, then we can get going."

Nova just noded absently, then slid down a nearby ladder to where an elevator would come up, hopefully.

I walk up to the controll consol, noting the big red lever marked "Trolly Summon," then go to push it into the "Power" mark when a near by door explodes. I aim my glock over and shoot a zombie point blank without even looking.

If my little sister could see me right now, I'm sure she'd be afraid. Very, very afraid.

I push the lever, then examine the room the zombie came out of, First thing I notice. TONS Of Explosives. A Large crate full, infact. I take a couple of grenades, then head down to the elevator.

Nova looks towards me as I hand her a couple of the grenades. "What? I'm trustworthy now?"

"No, but if we're descending into the depths of hell, I figure we're going to need all the fire power we can get."

A very fast ride later, and we reach the old track system.

"One cart...ONE?!" Nova asks, incrediously. Yes, there was only one car on the tracks.

"Well, it is an abandoned system." I shrug, then start the car. I'll take this moment to say one thing: I now know why it was abandoned. It has only two speeds, Fast, and Faster. And it's stuck on faster.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!" We both scream as the track races past those ham eyes, and squid-hounds and Head crabs, even sending a few backfliping when hit.

Then we come to a crashing halt infront of a pool of green, radio active, smelly stuff.

END EPISODE TEN.

**AN: Shorah! It's strange, The "we both scream" Line wasn't a bunch of "!!!!"'s when I uploaded it, Nope. Infact it said **

**"AIIIEEE" In a really drawn out line. So, No clue why it changed like that.**

Anywho, I'm STILL Working on that Primeval Update, For those of you interrested, that I mentioned in the Connection Backfire update, so...yeah.

*Cues _In The Street_** for no apparent reason other than that is what is playing on the MP3 player currently***

_DTC, URU EXPLORER


	11. BOOM! HEAD SHOT! PIZZA TIME!

_Episode Eleven._

**BLACK MESA_ _ _|**

"It's no wonder why this trail system was abandoned." I note as we walk along a narrow path next to the radioactive green pool. "This place is a death trap."

Nova just laughs as she fires her shotgun off towards a Bull Squid.

Well, as long as someone is having fun. I sigh before ducking under a rather large pipe. A Pipe that probably once contained this radio active material.

"Hey, doesn't this pipe connect to the spill we saw this morning?" Nova asks suddenly, noting the numbering on the Pipe.

I pause. "If it is, I feel sorry for the guy who has to deal with the pipe running through the power department."

"Bleh." Nova grimaces. "Electrified Toxic Waste."

_*Cue Bouken Desho--- Wait. Rather, Let's cue Something completely Different.*_

_**CUE: Military Precision.**_

After some drainage pipe crawling, we found the Silo.

Or rather, the Base of it. The Base of the Silo that was surrounded by Green, radio active, smelly stuff. And there was an elevator in the middle of said pool of smell stuff.

"So, what now?"

"We walk across the the wobbly and unstable pipes to get to the elevator!" Nova grins.

Doing so was much done than said, Actually, as the pipes weren't wobbly and unstable as first thought.

So, up the elevator we went.

"Don't you think Spider-man got it easy?" Nova starts.

"Hmm? How so?"

"Well, for starters, he got bitten by a Spider. There are a lot of things that he could have been bitten by that wouldn't have made for such a great super hero." She grins. "What if Peter Parker was 'Doggy man' instead?"

"There's also the fact that he got bitten by a spider mutated on purpose." I add. "Who knows what exactly we've been walking through."

"Yeah, there's that too." Nova nods as we reach the top. "The Hulk got Gamma radiation poisoning and turned green." She laughs while we walk down the hallway. "I wonder if we'll turn orange?"

"Probably N--" I stop as the sounds of a Acid Spitter munching on some..._thing_... comes from around the corner.

A moment of silence passes as the monster enjoys it's meal before we both walk out and fire single shots into the monster.

"Don't you just hate awkward pauses like that?" Nova asks as we walk towards a cat walk.

A hound eye stares at us from the other side, and we stare back. Then, it turns towards us, and my Shotgun sends it flipping head over heals over the railing.

"Today's lesson is on Newton's third law." I comment wryly as a distant "Splash" echos up the chamber.

_**MIT**_**_ _ _| SCIENCE COURSE_ _ _|**

"Today's lesson is on Newton's third law and how it interacts with items on the molecular level." the Professor starts. "For instance, new state and federal guidelines require all explosives filled barrels to be marked with a 'Flame' icon."

Nova looked up at the board with a grin on her face.

"If, for instance, one were to shoot one of these barrels with a standard firearm, it would cause a massive internal combustion that would result in the instant heat death of anything standing next to it."

**BLACK MESA_ _ _| SILO D_ _ _|**

Nova grins as she spots a Hound eye standing next to several Flame marked barrels.

"Ah, I'm not so sure that's such a good idea." I go to point out the fact that the barrels are stacked on the bridge we need to access the inside of the Blast pit chamber when Nova fires her shotgun at the barrels, causing the bridge and the hound eye to vaporize.

"WOAH! DID YA SEE THAT, NYORO!?" Nova grins as she skips towards the ruined bridge. "Combo Attack!! Megas Big Explosion!!"

_Yare yare. _What thoughts are running through your head, Nova?

**SOS CLUB ROOM_ _ _|**

"BOOOM! Head Shot!" Miss Tsuruya grinned as her Sniper Character 'snipes' my character's hostage. "Did ya see that? Megas Big Splatter!"

"Yes, I saw it." I sighed. "And you just killed our only way to get at his superiors."

"Oh..." She frowned, then grined again. "Well, atleast we can reload, right?"

Haruhi burst into the room right then and there. "EVERYONE! You'll never guess what I just read in today's paper!"

"Not today." I sighed. "Not today."

**BLAST SILO_ _ _|**

We had to jump across the gap in the catwalk to get to the anti-chamber.

And opening the door revealed a zombie.

"Yuck." Nova grimaces as it's green blood splatters everywhere.

With that out of the way, we finally notice the rather loud banging coming from inside the chamber.

Walking inside, very cautiously, We find a scientist, bleeding to death.

"Fire the test rocket..." The man groans out before either of us could move towards him. "You've got to destroy that thing before it grows any larger..." Then he dies.

Nova and I share a glance in the (Relative) Silence of the chamber for a moment. Then we start laughing.

"Gordon, what was the first thing that came to mind when he said that?" Nova asks between giggles.

"You don't want to know." I ask as I try to calm down. "What were you thinking?"

"Freud was right." she notes, then breaks down into laughter again.

I chuckle, then shake my head clear. This was---IS a serrious situation! And here we are LAUGHING about a man's final words?!

What was it he asked us to do again? Destroy something by firing a rocket.

Right.

"Come on, we've got something to burn to a crisp." I sigh, then head up the hallway.

Nova's laughter stops immediately, although she still has a rather amused grin on her face. _"Allons y!"_We run up towards the Rocket Test controll chamber room door, Nova opens it.

_**"Grrroooooaaaaarrrr......"**_

I cover my ears as an unearthly sound fills the room.

A lone scientist runs towards the controlls, next to the window, only to be chased away by a giant green...

Something. With an eye on it.

"GET IT OFF OF ME!" The scientist shouts as he's draged out of the window by the--- Thing.

It may be more accurately described as a Tentacle monster. Three rather large green claws are composing it's main body. And each claw is taping the metalic walls of the chamber.

SO THAT'S What the scientist ment by "It."

Nova snatches a grenade from her pocket, then tosses it into the test chamber. "Hasta la Vista!"

The monster recoils as the grenade explodes, and ceases it's racket.

"Well, this is New." Nova notes.

"I'm just concerned by the fact that only the SOUND of the grenade made it recoil." I note, then reach for the "Fire Rocket" Controll.

It beeps as it refuses to work.

"Looks like the Fuel, Power and Oxygyn lines are turned off." Nova sighs. "And I wanted a big boom."

"We'll have to get it opperational again if we're going to destroy that monster." I frown. "We'll have to split up according to this diagram."

"It'll go faster that way, though." Nova adds. "So, onwards?"

"I Guess." I sigh, then turn towards the doorway leading INTO The chamber. "Out of the fire, into the frying pan."

TO BE CONTINUED.


	12. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Rockets, IN SPACE!

_**Episode Twelve.**_

**BLACK MESA_ _ _| ROCKET TEST CHAMBER_ _ _|**

On the other side of the door were two security guard and a box of grenades. One Guard ran out the next door into the chamber, firing off rounds into the monster. He quickly got splattered by a claw a second later.

"This thing is blind." The remaining guard whispers. "It relies on Sound ONLY."

"Well, that's lucky." I note.

Then, with a grin, Nova adds. "That means we can flank it!"

So, I returned to the test chamber and climbed through the window, heading down to the first access point, one floor down.

I swung my crowbar through the wooden planks blocking my way, wincing at the sound it made (thankfully not alerting the monster) and heading down into the hallway that now opened to me.

So, I curiously wondered as I came to the Silo D-03 Access air lock, What kind of creature was this thing that it only reacted to Explosive sounds (such as gun fire and grenades) and not to wood being smashed to pieces?

Where on the evolutionary chain did it stand? More importantly, Did Yuki dream it up during that Cave Cricket incident, and was it only just now appearing in the world?

As I climbed out of the airlock, I noticed a zombie, out of reflex I shot it with the Shotgun.

_**BANG! **_

"WOAH!"

_**SPLOOSH!**_

I failed to notice the explosive barrel next to it.

_*Cue Military Precision*_

And so, the walkway was obliterated. (Un)Thankfully, there were two pipes next to the railing that WERE intact. One was blue, and the other red, One Oxygen, and one Fuel. My first thought on this was a simple one: Why are there explosive barrels on poorly constructed walkways everywhere? The Second was, of course the Fuel and Oxygen pipes were intact, this was a rocket Test chamber of course! The third was more curious, why wasn't the walkway made up of the same material the pipes were? The fourth was accompanied with a resigned sigh. I would have to walk across said pipes to cross to the other side.

Doing so was a piece of cake (For some reason I have the strangest urge to yell "THE CAKE IS A LIE!" at the top of my lungs), but, for reasons unknown, Black Mesa seemed fit to throw more into my path. The door marked "Fuel Controls" was locked, leading me to take a small, maintenance ladder down to the next floor where, naturally, was a Zombified Scientist.

I shot it in the head.

On said next floor was a man hole blocked off by security bars. Out of annoyance, I swung my crowbar at the metal, causing it to crumble away within a second.

"_Cardboard_? They made it out of _**CARDBOARD**_!"

So, I climbed back down into the sewer system, annoyed by all that was Black Mesa, even more so when the pipes I was precariously balancing on went in TWO directions.

Going to the left led to a dead end grate, And the right only yielded in yet another ladder.

Right at the top was a Zombie. I cut it's legs out from under it with my crowbar, and it tumbled past me into the water below, howling all the way. So, Down the hallway I went, slightly missing Nova's insane comments about Black mesa's design system at the moment. But, she was busy getting the Power turned on at this exact moment.

It was when I walked through a one way door, into a VERY expansive pipe with a fan at the bottom, and wood planks at the top, that I realized that Destiny Hated me.

So, I started my descent down to the currently inactive fan in an attempt to turn it on.

Later I learned, At that exact moment Nova had restored Power to the entire Rocket test lab.

Not A second after that, the giant fan blade activated, and I- currently balanced on the edge of a walkway- was launched up into the wooden planks above me.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Black Mesa! After all that vent crawling, being flattened against wooden boards is JUST what my back needed.

And Joy! More vent crawling to escape the 150 MPH winds. But, at least I found the controls for Fuel and Oxygen-

Sigh.

-Right behind the locked door from before.

Time to backtrack.

**NOVA TSURUYA'S POV_ _ _|**

I followed Kyon- and yes, I always call him Kyon in my head- out the window, then headed to the bottom landing. Ol' tentacle was thoroughly distracted by the grenades that I asked the security guard to throw.

"Yeah, go!" I whispered to myself. "Show your shadow who's boss!"

I then knocked down a bunch of wooden bars in my path, and took the right hand turn, 'cause, you know, you should ALWAYS take the right hand path!

I stopped. "Oh COME ON!"

The walkway had rusted away to _nothing._

Reluctantly, I jumped across.

"I do not want to do that again." I cursed my luck.

I then went to continue down the walk way when-

_**BANG!**_

_"WOAH!"_

_**SPLOOSH!**_

-The walkway crumbled away in-front of me, dropping down into toxic waste.

Rather than risk jumping across again, I scrambled my way over a steel bar mounted into the wall.

Thankfully, I made it to the exit door (Silo D-02 Access) without further incident.

When I saw the flammable barrels on the bridge, for once, I _**didn't **_shoot them. I've had enough of collapsing bridges, thank you very much!

Following the "Power" Line seemed to be the right way to go. Of course, I still didn't want to kill those three legged puppy dog things. But those Barnacle rope things from the roof and those Bull-Squids, They Definitely had to go.

My next Challenge: An elevator that stopped mid way down.

All my years of gaming have climaxed to this moment! The elevator's creaking, surely going to fall, and my only chance of escape is either the power line, or a ladder!

Power Line! I choose you!

I jumped just in time, as the elevator then plummeted down into the toxic waste.

"Why thank you mister power line! I think you're cute too!" I chanted to it as I climbed down. "Do you have a brother?"

"Don't expect me to go to the generator." A Scientist said once I got off the pipe like power cord. "Smithers went down there...and never came back."

"Suuuure he did." I rolled my eyes. "Which was the generator again?"

The scientist glared at me like I was crazy (and I am!).

I stuck my tongue out in retaliation.

He pointed towards the tunnel behind him, and I cheerfully skipped off, down the aisle.

I found a rather large chamber at the end of it, filled with toxic waste and.. A bull-squid.

Whatever these things are, the radiation would have killed it sure enough. But I'm not known for my patience when it comes to puzzles.

I threw a grenade at it.

BOOM!

With that taken care of, I climbed onto a small cart and pressed the Up arrow.

Suddenly, the cart "WOOSH"ed alltheway to the right.

"Wheeeeee!" I repeated said "Woosh" around three or four times until I'd gotten dizzy before I climbed up the ladder.

There was another "WOOOSH" Cart up here too! Except it was stuck on "Faster than furious" mode.

That...would probably kill me the second I stepped on it. Best to avoid it, So I did.

There was yet another ladder on either side of the chamber leading to the generator suspended above the pit. It kinda reminds me of that movie, _Catch That Kid_, where the girl climbed up the bank vault to get the money for her dad's operation. Except, unlike Maddie there, I'm turning on power.

And Unlike the movie, the only thing on the generator was a scientist.

"Doctor Smithers I presume?" I asked with a grin. "Mind if I call you 'Smitty'?"

"This is MY hiding spot, and I'm not leaving until the situation has _Drastically_ improved!" Smitty replied. "Go Away! And don't tell anyone I'm here!"

I shrugged. "Fine, Smitty! Be that way! But when I become a millionairess, and you need help, don't come crying to me!"

"I don't even KNOW who you are!" Smitty replied.

"Oh Smitty! You poor, naive fool!" I turned on the generator, and returned to the "woosh" ride and the collapsed elevator.

"EXCELLENT!" Angry Scientist 02 cheered happily. "Someone has restored full power! We'll have the engine up and running in no time!"

I blinked. "Suuure..."

I then started up a ladder. Time to backtrack.

**KYON'S POV_ _ _|**

By the time I made it back to the control room, Nova and the security guard were standing heroicly at the controlls.

"Ready for some Smoked Tentacles?" Nova asked with a grin.

"The question is, are you ready for the smell?" I asked in return.

Nova laughed before putting her hand over the trigger. "Three...!"

"...Two...!" I put my hand right on top of hers.

"...ONE!" We cried at once before pressing the trigger.

_**BWRRM.**_

_**BWRRM.**_

_**BWRRM.**_

Then, the Rocket Fired.

"YEAH!" The guard cheered. "Stay Out Of Black Mesa!"

"AND DON'T COME BACK!" I Threw a Grenade in for good measure.

"BURN! **BURN! **_**BURN!**_" Nova laughed triumphantly.

The rocket finished its test fire, and we all stood there with smiles on our faces.

TO BE CONTINUED.

**AN: WOW. That was almost...Five? Six? episodes of Freeman's mind into one Episode of story! So. Yeah. This probably wouldn't have even been written if I hadn't put my mind to it. I get distracted VERY Easily. Like Right Now. As I type, I am switching back and forth between URU and this page to feed the Lake In D'ni. Just now I stoped at the "to."**

**It's summer. I should manage my time better. (-_-;)**

**|)||+|K|**


	13. Hey! Gargy! How's that lightning taste?

_EPISODE THIRTEEN._

**SOS BRIGADE MEETING_ _ _| SOME TIME BEFORE THE EVENTS OF "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya"_ _ _|**

Despite Haruhi's claims that she was an Alien, and Yuki was the god, Several things didn't quite stack up. Koizumi still claimed Haruhi was god and Yuki was part of the DITE, seemingly well aware of the danger imposed on the world. If she were god, then why put the world at risk?

I decided to confront Haruhi on these matters.

"Oh come on Kyon! Weren't you listening the last time?" She had stopped time again, right outside the restaurant. "Yuki thinks I'm the source of everything here, meaning she's subconsciously making everything look and sound that I'm the cause of it, rather than she is."

You're starting to sound like Koizumi. Stop being paranoid.

_*Cue Military Precision*_

**PRESENT DAY_ _ _|**

Now, When I think back about what Haurhi had said, it still doesn't make any sense at all.

Yuki Nagato was "god" and Haruhi Suzumiya wasn't? Even when Yuki re-wrote the entire world that one December, it could be easily be explained away by "She (Y.N.) borrowed her (H.S.) powers", but then there was the Tanabata* incident. Haruhi (Small) had known who I was before we had even met.

{*= The correct spelling, when I wrote that previous chapter, I was writing it the way I kept reading it in my head. I Am An Idiot.}

I Resign myself now to what I resigned myself to then. Just go along with the flow, regardless of how much or how little sense things make.

In this case, the flow was to travel down an exhaust tunnel that had been cleared by firing a test rocket on top of some sort of tentacle monster.

"It smells like rotton eggs down here!" Nova commented with a hand over her nose. "Geeze, what was that thing made out of?"

I didn't reply, as doing such would lead to a mouth-full of the fowl stench, instead I turned my head to look at her.

"You know what, I bet that this thing was made out of some body's forgotten lunch!" Nova was now ranting. "They left it in the refrigerator, and then BAM! When aliens start showing up, it spontaneously mutates into some sort of mutant...chicken...Hybrid...Deviled egg monster!"

"Chicken?" I asked. "You think it was someone's... _chicken dinner_ or something?"

"Yup! Chicken and Devil'd egg sandwich!" Nova continued. "No power in the universe can stop the power of the Mutant chickeeeeeeeeen!"

The sudden trail off was due to the fact that the dirt tunnel suddenly gave out beneath us, dropping us several (Feet? Yards? A Mile?) down into a watery pool.

Surfacing from the water immediately made our Geiger counters go off. All around us were dead bodies and several radioactive tanks.

Without a second thought we dove down deeper into the water, this time of our own accord. Thankfully, not too far down was a small tunnel that lead upwards to an observation ledge. An observation ledge that was observing a sewer system pouring Toxic waste to some unknown destination.

We were at a loss for a moment, wondering how a facility such as Black Mesa could be messing with such Radioactive materials. Then, we put it aside and began to follow the flow of toxic waste via the ever so popular transport of "Walking on rusted drainage pipes."

"I get why we have these pipes for draining things..." Nova began as we climbed into an empty pipe. "But WHY are these things big enough to Crawl through!"

"I have no idea." Was my honest reply.

Then, for the second time within the last... Four Minutes, the pipe below us gave way, and dropped us down onto a table in some sort of room. Thankfully, any minor injuries were able to be treated thanks to a nearby supply of med-kits.

"Thank God!" Nova grinned. Suzumiya deserves no thanks if She's the one to have put us into this mess. No, wait. Actually, Koizumi is the one who needs to be thanked for even giving the Title "God" To what Haruhi supposedly is, and what She claims Nagato is. Thanks a lot Koizumi. Thank you for ruining a perfectly good expression of frustration in this kind of situation!

Our "joyous" find of the MedKits was short lived, as gun fire and rather loud explosions were echoing down a nearby tunnel. At the end of it were these "HECU" (Or whatever they were called) Marines fighting off some... Gargantuan monster ontop of an underground railroad track. (What is it with you and nonsensical things, Black Mesa!)

"I shall call it... Gargy!" Nova dubbed the creature. "Gargantuan is too hard to say every single time!" as her excuse.

Needless to say, those soldiers were not doing too well. The "Gargy", as Nova had decided to call it, was launching energy blasts from it's hands. The soldiers only proved to serve as a distraction for us to get across the train tracks.

"Geeze! What is it with the more deadly monsters as the day goes on?" Nova frowned. "Couldn't we be attacked by one of those Hound eyes? Or maybe a Zapper!"

Her wish was someones command, for at that moment, a few Zapper aliens teleported in. One of them, however, teleported inside an explosive barrel, and- somehow- made himself and his companion spontaneously explode.

Nova doubled over in laughter.

The spontaneous explosion had sealed off a stair case (Probably leading somewhere use full), forcing us down a hallway and away from the "Gargy" and it's rampage against the Marines. Ture to Nova's wish, we encountered more Zapper aliens, easily dispatched with some gunfire.

Then, there was a roar, and the grate beneath us colapsed, Thankfully squashing about half a dozen head crabs.

"Why does the floor keep collapsing on us?" I have no clue, Nova.

On the other side of the railing we WERE going across was a control console for the train system currently blocked off by the "Gargy".

There was a nearly security guard on the floor, trying to patch up rather nasty looking wound to the torso. "If you can get the power online, that train'll take you right to the surface!" was the only thing the guard said to us. "The generator's on the next floor."

And so, off we went yet again on another adventure, down more tunnels and killing more aliens. Eventually, we came across a red door marked "A-894GH", with a red spin wheel to open it. On the other side was a pit containing Hazardous Waste Fountain, According to a nearby sign.

There were also soldiers in this tunnel, and they were shooting at us.

"You know, I'm begining to think they aren't here to rescue us." I commented as we shot back.

"What gave you that idea?" Nova asked back sarcastically as she reloaded..

At the top of the pit/shaft, was, surprise surprise, another Aperture Turret.

__Sorry, We're closed!__ it cried out as we evaded it's Dakka Spread.

Further down a hallway was a small marine bunker piled high with explosives. Nova had a sadistic grin on her face as she pulled out a grenade.

_**BAM!**_

The soldiers didn't even have a second to react before a massive chain reaction went off, Clearing the way to an Elevator, which their bunker was infront of. We went down to find an underwater chamber, that was barred off by blue laser emitting devices. There was also no safety railing, meaning we could just dive into the water and avoid finding out what these devices did.

We explored the water filled tunnels to find more aliens (Nova still sniffs when she has to shoot one of those Hound Eyes) and- Surprise!- The Power Generator! Down a staircase we found the Power Generators, with Unit Two online, and Unit One offline.

And unit one wouldn't go _**online.**_ Meaning, yet again, we went into the tunnels below.

"I'm getting tired of all of this." Nova sighed. "Why can't this day be over already!"

Fixing the Generator was as simple as smashing a crate or two. Returning to the elevator, we were greeted by more soldiers coming to greet us.

Before we could get a shot off, they tripped their own blue lasers, and... well..

_**BANG!**_**  
**  
The Devices Exploded.

"T...Trip mines?" Nova stuttered. Well, at least we know to avoid them now.

The return trip was uneventful, Excluding the sudden disappearance of that Aperture Turret (It was replaced by a sign reading "Sorry, we're closed."), the only thing that happened was that more soldier marines came to kill us and ended up fighting amongst themselves as to who would kill us. (We didn't even have to fire a shot.)

"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." I sighed. "I wish it would just end already."

Unfortunately, the day would just keep going on and on and on.

The "Track Power" Was offline, and wouldn't turn online. TO make matters worse, the Marines had given up trying to kill ol' "Gargy". We returned to the Track Room, as that was the only place "Track Power" would be located.

"RUUUUN!" Nova cried out as "Gargy" Came barreling after us. "Gargy's on our tail!"

We quickly found the track power room, two massive generators. That were about sparking with electricity.

A plan was quickly formed, Nova would run to the power switch while I would stand back and distract it, keeping it pinned between the two generators.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" I shot at it with my MP5. "You disgrace to Monsters everywhere!"

"NO! OVER HERE!" Nova fired a grenade at it from the controls. "You Stupid Rock creature! I've eaten people like you for breakfast!"

The monster was quickly torn between chasing me, or running towards Nova. It didn't have any time to decide. Nova threw the lever for the generators, and I let loose a few rounds at it.

Due to some strange combination of events, "Gargy" Exploded.

And so, after a not-so-long game of "Move the Electric Tram and Track", we sat down on the cart and began our long trek On a Rail line. Unfortunately, not too far down the line, the track was blocked off by several concrete barriers.

"I just wish this day would end." Nova planted her head onto the controls.

I too, am tiring of exploring this facility. You know Black Mesa, if I ever get out of this, I'm going to go work for Aperture, and while I'm there, I'm going to develop a device that can manipulate gravity! Why? So I can find Wallace Breen, our "Dear" administrator, and Toss him into a pit of toxic waste with relative ease!

_**End Chapter Thirteen. TO BE CONTINUED.**_

**A.N.: Ugh, this took a long time to get to. I'm not happy with it. Not completely. But... Well, anything's better then nothing, right? *SIGH* Chapter 14 may be an even longer time coming, I've only got... FOUR Freeman's Mind episodes left to go through for source footage. {I do not own any version of the Original Half-Life, and the BLACK MESA mod has yet to be released. -_-;} The end of this was Episode 24. I think, maybe, I'll skip over to Aperture for a bit. Maybe. {If I do, it'll either be "The Science of Yuki Nagato" Or "The A.I. of Yuki Nagato" Or something else entirely I haven't thought up yet.} Anywho, bed time for me. School starts next week too. *SIGH* Don't expect 14 any time soon.  
_DimTravCal **


	14. Lost On the Rails for months at a time

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN_ _ _|**

"Nova." I said. "Get off."

"What?" She asked, incrediously, as I set the tram to reverse.

"I'm about to do something so stupid that Haruhi would kill me for it." I replied once we were far enough back. "I'm not about to let you get caught up with this."

"Hey, what happened to team work?" She asked.

"Do you remember what happened in that Computer Club sim' we played?" I asked back.

"Uhh..." Nova paused. "I guess...?"

"The one where I lost everything except the engines?" I reminded. "And how I was right behind their commander and he didn't even realize it?"

"That time that you...?" Her eyes widened.

**FLASH BACK_ _ _|**

It was "Day of Sagittarius V"- and no, there wasn't a IV in between the last game we played either- the Computer Research Society really liked their nonsense game titles, I guess. Much to our collective surprise, it was a 3D real time game. Much to our collective relief, it was a mod of an existing flight simulator game to allow multi-player.

Haruhi designated me and Tsuruya to be the team leaders, after our Display in the Deathmatch tournament, much to Koizumi's continued surprise.

In any case, it was a simple enough game, Tsuruya was captain, I was attack, Nagato was exploration once again, and Haruhi was- surprisingly- defense along with Koizumi.

The game went swiftly, up until one of the Computer Research Society members kamakazi'd themselves inside the majority of my fleet, also depleting me of my shields, weapons and navigation.

All I had left was engines and stealth.

Was it really luck that I floated past the president aimlessly?

_*cue Military Precision*_

**FLASH FORWARD_ _ _|**

Just like then, I engaged ramming speed for the blockade.

Unlike then, I jumped off and ducked into a roll as it sped into the wall...

**crunch.**

...And through it...?

"What. The. Hell." Nova stared, exasperated. "Are these things made out of Styrofoam or something?"

I Tapped one of the remaining blocks. "Feels like concrete..."

"Ugh... Let's go catch our train." Nova sighed.

Surprisingly enough, there was a security guard waiting for us, along with our stopped tram. "Doctor Freeman, I've got a message for you from one of the scientists from Lambda."

"eh?" I blinked. "What is it?"

"You're supposed to take the old rail system to some sort of rocket." he shrugged. "The guy didn't give me any details while he was trying to escape for his own life, but he said that it was supposed to end this or something, and the military aborted the launch."

"Well." Nova sighed. "Looks like we've got our mission."

"So if you find the rocket." The Guard concluded. "You'll have to climb up to the control room and fire it manually."

So, with that in mind, we took our tram cart ahead.

"Good luck out there!" The guard waved.

"Yeah..." I sighed as we pulled the cart into...a spinning elevator.

"Oh Come on..." Nova sighed. "Why build one of these down here?"

"Makes me wonder where they got the idea for them." I sighed as the elevator descended.

The elevator came to a stop in the middle of a water filled room.

With out much incident, we kept plowing forward through the water-filled track system, up until we finally encountered our first monsters of this area- Houndeyes.

"Awww..." Nova sighed as we watched them from a distance. "Do we have to kill them?"

"If they're in our way, yes." I grimaced. She still wanted one of these things as a pet?

However, our dilemma was resolved as a Bull squid thing came running out and _began spitting at us!_

Guns came out, and we fired.

The three aliens were soon dead, and a weird flipping sign was hit by accident. The flipping sign, by the way, apparently controlled track junction direction, as our tram suddenly veered into a dangling hook.

And then, we heard it.

Again.

__Helloo? Helloooo! Hello! Not happenin'.__

Another Aperture Turret.

This one sounded different though, a male voice, trying to sound more like the normal turrets we'd encountered so far.

Nova and I exchanged a curious glance. What was going on with that turret that made it sound weird?

It didn't matter right now, we didn't have time to deal with it.

So, after spotting it's cozy little location in a booth above the track blocked by the claw, I threw a grenade in.

__Blam Bla-Blam! Did I get-?_**FWHAM!**

The smoking turret flew out of the window and smashed into the opposite wall, where it then exploded on it's own accord.

"Well." Nova laughed. "I guess we'll never figure out what was wrong with that one then, eh?"

"Yeah." I narrowed my eyes. "Strange. I wonder what that was about."

Moving on, we backed the tram up, and turned the flippy sign around.

We kept riding along the track, avoiding hitting any of the track signs as we went. A few uneventful minutes passed as we spotted a few more intersecting track paths, but we didn't even consider stopping until we found an area with more Houndeyes.

But they were dead already- Shot by soldiers, I'll assume.

We went into a nearby doorway, and started walking down the hallway beyond.

That's when a strange, eerie cry sounded out through the hallway.

"What the heck was that?" Nova asked.

"Some kind of bird?" I mused.

Despite that, we pushed on ahead, and didn't like what we found.

Soldiers, dead. Bullsquids, dead. Houndeyes, dead.

We didn't dare open the door that was marked "caution"- We could already hear the horrified cries of zombies inside.

Continuing on, we passed a flooded room (conveniently with an extending bridge) and more dead houndeyes. It was then that the ceiling clingers appeared again. Stupid barnicles.

And then, we finally found an elevator- Surrounded by Soldiers, a dead bullsquid, and the remains of an exploded turret.

An exploded turret that seemed to have destroyed the elevator controls as well.

"Damn." Nova swore. "Stupid military."

We went back the way we came, and rode the track on wards, passing by all the familiar landmarks again. This time, the first time a new switcher sign showed up, we flipped it, and continued on wards.

We slowed to a halt next to a few Soldiers, previously dead, a Bullsquid (Dead due to my MP5), and a facecrab.

This area had a stairway that we took up, which lead us to the overhanging area where the turret that we'd exploded was.

Nova played with the switches while I examined the impact site. My Grenade had only sent the turret flying out the window from the change in air pressure. But that didn't make any sense. The turret shouldn't have gone flying, unless it were somehow lighter than the turrets I'd encountered before. It should have only been knocked to the side.

That didn't make any sense either... Coupled with the odd voice...? Maybe it was defective?

Oh well.

"Hey, Gordon!" Nova started.

"Yeah?" I looked up.

"I found the controls for the hook!" she grinned.

Perfect!

* * *

After riding the tram around in a circle again, we finally made our way down the track that had previously been blocked.

"Why did they even have that there in the first place?" I had to ask.

"Who knows." She shrugged.

We finally found another spinning elevator...

**BLAMBLAMBLAM!**

...And were immediately ambushed by turrets.

__Target acquired!__

__Dispensing Product!__

__Stop Shooting! It's me!__

Thankfully, it seemed that the elevator was going upwards fast enough for their pitiful attempts at shooting us to miss entirely. I noted with some glee, however, that they'd placed turrets across from each other, and our rapid ascent was causing them to shot eachother.

When the elevator stopped, there was another turret shooting at us...

Or atleast, trying to.

__Hey! Anyone got some bullets?__

It looked like any other turret, but there was that odd voice again, and it was apparently on empty.

It's motors were clicking rapidly as it tried to shoot us.

__Yeah! Did I get you?__It asked.

"no!" Nova strode over to the turret, then kicked it over.

__OW! That's...not good__

It started smoking and then..

Nova winced as a micro explosion that sent it flying off into the tunnel.

"Well." I started. "I Guess we know what's wrong with it, then.."

"Yeah." She blinked.

The Tram seemed to be stuck on the tracks now, so we decided to let it sit there as we explored ahead on foot.

"Stupid turrets." I grumbled. We continued along, and, to spare you the gore of it all, we killed lots of soldiers and aliens that appeared. Honestly, I wonder how some people can go through recounting all of their war stories in excruciating detail when I'm getting squicked out just thinking about what I've had to do so far.

Finally, we came up against another Turret, barricaded behind a wall barrier. This one was a functioning one though.

__Can you come over here?__

"NO!" Nova threw a grenade over the barrier.

**THUD**

__OWOWOWOW! Self test error__

And another one dead.

We glanced out at the wall behind the turret and stared at it.

"Surrender Freemen...?" Nova read off the wall. "Oh..."

"Welp." I blinked. "Atleast it doesn't say 'Kyon'." I remarked. "If It did, I'd be more worried."

"They can't spell, though." She pointed out. "Your name is 'Freeman', not 'Freemen'."

I sighed. "Who knows who cares."

"And why isn't my name there?" She huffed. "I'm just as important as you are!"

"Eh." I trudged my way away from the wall, and towards the "Caution" Door. I didn't think it was a good idea, but it was the only door we had.

So inside we went, inside the giant rocket storage silo, inside and underneath the trip mines the Marines (I'm guessing, really. They could be FBI for all I care. They certainly are NOT Soldiers with the way they keep attacking us like this) had placed.

As soon as we were securely inside, a Marine/Soldier started shooting at us from below.

Rather too eagerly, in my opinion.

Still, despite that, we returned fire, and he dropped dead.

We found a ladder, and went down a level, finding another Caution Door. On the other side was a tram cart.

"I don't trust it." Nova declared. "Not one bit."

We took the cart anyways, at least as far as the point where we found an abandoned Turret.

It didn't shoot at us, but it had the normal voice.

__Help!__ It said. __I'm lost!__

We decided to let it be, and went inside the room it was supposedly guarding.

Inside were, surprise, more dead soldiers and, surprise surprise, a few alive Bullsquids.

We shot the damn things before they even reacted to our sudden entrance.

The room was littered with ammo, and blood.

"Guh, when we get out of here, I am taking the longest bleach shower in the history of...Ever!" Nova grumbled at the blood. I honestly couldn't blame her.

After we looted the corpses, and turned to leave, a message on the wall caught our attention again.

"Yore Dead Freeman." Nova read. "Well, atleast they got your name right this time."

"Yore." I frowned. "Do they think they're pirates or something?"

"Ehhh..." She grimaced. "What I want to know is how _they _knew we were going to be in here."

"The turret." I sighed. "They placed the turret to lure us in here."

"Damn."

* * *

With that, we decided to not take any more detours and side trips, instead following the rail entirely.

"I think Haruhi would be having a field day with this." I remarked. "Not the omnipotent god-guardian Haruhi, the Haruhi that loved to goof off every saturday and hunt for the abnormal."

"Eh?" Nova looked at me.

"Back before any of this happened, or before I even knew that Haruhi was 'alien' of the group and Nagato was the 'god', Haruhi just seemed like the kind of girl who'd search for the abnormal for the fun of it." I explained. "If that Haruhi were here, she'd be loving it."

"Aren't they one in the same, though?"

"Maybe." I shrugged. "But there were times, even after that day at the Cafe, that I'd see her eyes light up at the simple fun of the hunt."

"oh Speaking of." Nova cut me off as she pushed me off the cart into an alcove. "DUCK!"

"What?" I blinked as a trail of smoke flew past where my head had once been.

A distant thud resounded.

"What the hell!" she grumbled. "Rockets! Who fires rockets underground!"

The tram was long gone now. Damn. Now we were on foot again.

In any case, this jerk with a rocket launcher was our new priority.

"Okay, now what?" I grumbled. "Nice save, by the way. Thanks."

"We gotta take him out." Nova grimaced. "And You're welcome, I guess." She glared at me. "Don't go making a habit out of it."

"Wouldn't dream of it." I remarked.

I'll spare you the details, but what ensued was a very long game of long distance chicken.

Nova and I would take turns leaning out and shooting the soldier that was firing rockets at us, Nothing seemed to be hitting him at first.

"Enough!" Nova snatched up a grenade and threw it.

Poor rocket guy didn't have a chance to fire off any rockets before-

**BLAM!**

He hit the electrified rail, already dead.

So, we were forced to walk.

"I'm getting tired of this." Nova groaned.

"So am I."

We finally found the cart, blocked by a toll booth blocker, and a bucket load of zapper aliens.

We weren't wasting time anymore, I pulled out my MP5 and used the launcher on it. "Fire the cannons!" I roared in my best Pirate-y voice.

The Zappers probably didn't appreciate it, but they were blown up just the same.

We tried moving the tram after that, but the blocker that had stopped it before was automatically pulling on the brakes on the tram as soon as it approached.

"Know what?" I said. "I bet the controls for the bar are at the end of this tunnel, and there'll be a ton of soldiers at the other end."

"Probably." Nova nodded. "Reminds me of that one level of Quarter-Life."

I froze. "Nova."

"Yeah?"

"I think our whole life has degenerated into a video game."

Silence.

And then Nova cursed our combined luck.

* * *

We entered a large room, and kept crouched up against a wall. Then, we heard radio chatter directly above us.

_*KSSSH*"Think that freemen guy got blasted by the rocket sentry yet?"*KSSSH*_One soldier asked.

_*KSSSH*"Nah. Too resourceful for that. But even if he did, his friend's probably headin' our way."*KSSSH*_The second remarked.

"Called it." I mouthed silently.

Nova rolled her eyes, held up three fingers, then pointed towards the other side of the track room, where a second tram cart was.

I nodded.

Three fingers went up.

Two remained.

One left...

GO!

We ran across the room as silently as we could, and came to a halt next to the next cart. Of course, the path was blocked by another blocker.

Of course, I sighed. We moved the cart, the soldiers got alerted by the noise.

So, we started walking along the walls, continuing to be as silent as possible until we entered the tunnel.

"Damn." I muttered. "They've been tracking us with the cart."

"'Course they are." Nova sighed. "Guess that means we've gotta keep walking?"

"Yup." I nodded.

And so, we walked, being a silent as possible as we passed another open area, and continuing onwards.

And suddenly, an Elevator.

It went up.

And It didn't spin.

Hallelujah!

Up it went, and...

Of course, the door was blocked by five solid crates of explosives.

"Okay. Screw this." Nova pulled out a grenade, then pressed the down button.

Duck and Cover! Duck and Cover!

**BLAM!**

After catching our breaths, we went back up, and were surprised to see that the place wasn't completely leveled.

Sure, there were some stress marks on the walls, but otherwise...

Oh, Something else to make note of- There was a perfectly good satchel charge just laying on the ground right NEXT to the explosives.

Completely unharmed.

Of course, the soldier that had been waiting in ambush next to those explosives was now dead.

Happy accidents.

We took the nearby ladder up, and ascended to the top, emerging into more tunnels.

We then entered into a crate transport room.

"You know." nova remarked. "I wouldn't be surprised if these were the same boxes moving past all the time. They just go up, over, across, up over, across, rinse and repeat!"

"Could be." I shrugged, They WERE labeled all the same.

It was at that moment that a box exploded suddenly, two soldiers jumping out.

I'll admit that we were caught off guard.

But me more so than Nova.

I still had my MP5 out, and, through sheer luck or happy accident, I fired off the grenade.

**BLAM!**

They were dead before they fired a shot.

"Welp." Nova gulped. "That was..."

"Yeah." I shook my head. "So what's this switch do?" I asked as I approached the wall the soldiers had been hiding next to. There was a switch on it.

"Flip it."

Doing so resulted in the stop bar nearby moving upwards.

"Well, that does us No good." I grumbled.

"We should have kept the cart." Nova started. "That way we could load these guys' dead bodies onto it and send it down the line."

"That's disturbingly morbid." I stared at her.

"Meh."

We continued walking along the safest path we could find (either more box transport or Arcing electric boxes were the only other paths that were severly dangerous looking). And then we sighed.

The only way to go was down.

There was a tram elevator at the bottom, surrounded by turrets and- oh joy- zombies.

A Shotgun took each out in turn.

Also, we found another stockpile of grenades! Just when we were running low.

"This. Is. Annoying!" Nova grumbled. "I am SO tired of the trains here, Gordon."

"Me too." I nodded. "Me too."

Now, I'd stop here, but we're almost to the surface.

Seriously.

I mean it.

Honest!

All we had to do was take out another boxed in turret.

__Could you come over here?__It asked.

"NO!" Nova threw another grenade.

The Explosion didn't send this turret flying, but it _did _have a curious effect.

__I'M on Fire!__

**BLAM!**

We shrugged at our luck, and continued down the hallway, expecting more ladders and tunnels, but, hey! Remember how I said we were almost at the surface?

Here we were at last!

Oh, Damn. There's two soldiers just outside the door.

_*KSSSH*"All I know is that they're killing my buddies."*KSSSH*_one was saying.

_*KSSSH*"Oh he will pay. He Will P-"_

"DIEEEE!" Nova roared as she shot the both of them with her Shotgun. "Nobody can guilt trip _ME!_" She grumbled as we stepped out into the night air.

Night air?

"It's night already." I sighed.

So what did this make this? Night two? Day Three? I don't even care anymore.

END CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

**A.N.: Sorry for the massive delay, but it took a while for Freeman's Mind to get to a reasonable point for this chapter (Did not want to end while on the rail), and when it did, I got distracted with other things (Xros Wars, Portal 2, Other Misc. Things). -_-; Oh well. **

**I sneaked in a few of Portal 2's Defective Turrets, although only defected in that they got loaded with the "bad" AI and didn't get any bullets in them. They managed to get through production otherwise. And I doubt Aperture's come up with the scanner's yet. **

**...Then again...**

**_DT**


	15. Has it REALLY been a year? 0o

BEGIN EPISODE FIFTEEN.

As Nova raided the soldiers for ammo, I couldn't help but stare up at the stars above and think back about all that had happened thus far...

And then time seemed to slow down to months within seconds.

I knew that feeling.

"Kyon!"

All too well.

I winced, and I'm pretty sure Nova did as well, or well, I think she would have if she hadn't frozen with the rest of everything.

"Haruhi." I didn't even need to turn around, she warped space and spun everything around so I was facing her. "About time you showed up."

"No time for chit chat-" Was it me, or was she her old teen-aged self again? Actually, more around the age when we graduated. Odd, considering last time I'd seen her she was about the same age as the rest of us- "And no time for internal rambling either! Older me couldn't be here because of temporal shenanigans, so I'm here in her place."

I hate it when she does that.

"Look, there are major events going down." she warped us back to the Spectrometer chamber, frozen in place as the crystal began to discharge it's weird energies. "Circumstantially simultaneous to this exact moment- in your past, I mean- someone some-when in some other somewhere-land opened a rift through every major dimension and alternate universe, using 'accidents' like these in combination to promote the rifts even further beyond their normal scope and range."

"Great." I rolled my eyes. "So let me guess, I've got to stop this guy and save every universe?"

"No." She shook her head as we warped to somewhere else on earth- Tokyo harbor, empty save a strange light show in the sky. "There's a team already doing that- Several, actually, but there's one that's specifically dedicated to stopping this jerk." And back to Black Mesa. Oh- goodie. A Missile launch chamber. Why do I have a bad feeling about this? "But right now, I need you and Tsuruya to curb the damage in _this_ universe, and keep this guy from entering it directly."

"Wait. So how are we supposed to do this, exactly?" It had to be asked.

"Just keep doing what you guys already have been- Escaping." Haruhi insisted. "But just up ahead there's a rocket with a satellite inside. That satellite's got the capability to seal the rift that's been opened in this universe- at least partially- but it'll need to be activated later on, can't be here, not just yet. But you need to focus on the launch- that's the only thing we're actively needing here."

"If I remember right, some scientists were yammering on about firing some rocket anyways. So this all makes sense except for: 'Partially'?"

"The rift will be small enough that the guy we're trying to stop won't be able slip through it, meaning in order to enter he'll have to extend his plans to make it in here." she shook her head. "Look, the point of all this is that this guy is playing a chess game against all of time and space. If we can keep your universe safe, at least for the time it takes to throw everything off of his schedule and onto ours, then it'll give our tactical team the time to get in and take this guy, and all of his 'followers', out of the picture once and for all."

"That's comforting." I still don't like this. "So this guy's playing a chess game right? That means he can't directly affect this universe yet, so he has to rely on pawns. Those 'followers' you mentioned."

"Quick thinking. That's the gist of it, alright." she grinned. "I was just about to get to that!"

"I saw a guy hanging around this morning- or was it yesterday? I can't remember anymore- on the tram cart across from me at a toxic waste spill. He was giving off this creepy vibe like you do at times.."

Haruhi nodded. "I'll have someone jump back a bit, see what comes up... But we can't interfere with the past though, not with as unstable as time's become. In theory we could make a separate branch, but that won't do you two here any good." she shook her head. "Anyways, thanks for the heads up. Fill Tsuruya in, and one of me will get back to you as soon as we can, if at all. This is one of the few spots I could find that's not buried inside the black spot the Cascade is causing."

"Haruhi, wait!" I stopped her before she left. "Why? Why would stopping one universe from being entered do any good?"

She seemed taken back for a moment...Then grinned. "Think of it like a six way chess game on a four way board."

And before I could ask what she meant by that, I was dropped back to the exact spot I'd been standing on when Haruhi pulled me out.

"Damn it, Haruhi." I'd barely said it above a mutter, but Nova still looked up at it.

"Huh?"

...And one restated explanation later (that really could have been avoided if Haruhi had just brought Nova into the loop in the first place)...

"RAWRR! That makes me so Megas mad, nyoro!" And out came the catchphrase. "She couldn't just warp us out but no! Gots ta leave us here to clean up some mega bad mess!"

Yup. All we wanted to do was escape, and instead Haruhi once again drags us into the land of the paranormal. Really, why can't we catch a break? ...But considering how bad a Resonance Cascade actually is...

I Really hate these dilemmas. Really, truly.

"I think at the very least, we should keep on with the number one goal of 'escape Black Mesa'." I began. "If we so happen to stop the Resonance Cascade at the same time...Well...I say it's a happy accident."

"Well, okay then..." She grinned at me. "But I think we should _at least_ launch that rocket for sake of launching a ROCKET!"

"Well, considering that we've already test fired one, a real one is just the next logical step up!" I couldn't help but agree.

* * *

Obviously, we would have been going this way from the get-go anyways. The only available path out of this small canyon (besides the way we came in, of course) that wasn't locked tight was a set of airlock doors labeled "CAUTION: Blast Danger."

On the immediate opposite side, however, were more armed soldiers, across this massive pit that I believe a rocket should be standing. They spotted us, reaching for their weapons immediately...

Nova reached for a grenade...

And they exploded before she could get it off her belt.

"What the-" I didn't even have the energy to finish the sentence.

We just sort of stared at the three dead bodies, one sans an arm and a leg, lying there for a few moments.

"Did one of them just fumble with their grenade?" I had to ask.

"Either that or I threw one back in time." She replied. "But I think the former's about ten times more likely."

"Who knows." And with that we went for the blast door that those idiots had been guarding.

...Of course, finding that the stairs just beyond were rigged with explosives- six whole blocks of them, to be exact- made their stupidity make even less sense sense.

I groaned as Nova squealed with delight. "Can I keep them?"

"No." They were all armed with trip wires. Couldn't even start ascending the stairs or else- PCHOO. Up into the atmosphere we we went along with half the building.

We quickly strolled outside and took stock of our situation.

"It's like the bucket over a door prank." Nova said once her delight at seeing all those explosives wore down. "Only the military takes it too far."

"Well...They obviously don't want us firing off this missile." I noted, pointing up at the control room above us, obviously what those stairs went to. "But..." Wait a second. "Aren't control room windows normally covered in glass?"

"Yeah? I mean...Usually, I think."

"What do you think would happen if we tried to climb up the wall?"

* * *

Surprisingly, the wall climbing was fairly easy. There were plenty of things to stand on, the window wasn't that far up off the ground, and, much to my delight, there was a blast shield embedded into the upper part of the window sill! So that's why there wasn't any glass.

As we climbed through the small gap into the control room, we heard the sound of radios chattering on the other side of an open door.

Nova and I both motioned for silence at the same time, and that nearly made us laugh at the timing of it.

Nearly.

Didn't want those soldiers coming in, now did we?

After a few moments, we found the button that launched the rocket- already prepared and everything.

The blast shields slid down, sirens blared...

And through the gaps in the shields, we saw a brief flash of orange light and then an overpowering flash of white light. After the noise and light had settled down...We both realized that the guards outside had continued chattering on like the idiots they were.

I motioned for a grenade, then pointed at the door. She nodded, headed over, pulled the pin out of the grenade, and started counting in her head as she walked out into the hallway.

"Hey boys! I think you dropped something!" She threw the grenade like it was a ski ball, and then dove back into the control room just as...

**BLAM!**

Radios flared up in alarm for a few moments, then went silent. She grinned at me. "The Idiots had their backs turned!"

Wait. Really? Did they NOT hear the missile launching?

Examining the hallway the now dead soldiers had been guarding revealed that they had been watching the very door they had rigged with explosives.

Really? That much explosives and you decide to _guard_ them on two sides? Our HEV suits aren't _that_ durable... Adding in the fact that we just launched a _**missile**_ behind their backs?

Really? Just... _**REALLY? **_This is what our tax dollars go to work for?

Soldiers that can't even hear a rocket launch happening right behind them?

* * *

We left the monument of wasted money behind, and returned to the tram tracks outside- Oh. Surprise.

One of the doors is now open.

"Haruhi?" Nova ventured.

"Maybe." I frowned, noting with vague alarm that the dead soldiers Nova had killed were gone.

It was then that a sniper shot rang out, hitting the ground just between our feet.

"Time to go!" Nova yelped

Inside the newly opened room, we found a ladder going down into the pits of Black Mesa yet again.

Joy.

* * *

I regretted it immediately. Not only A: did we find another tram card, but B: we found boxes full of the Military's blue laser trip mines. Nova couldn't keep the joy off of her face.

Soon enough, after some wandering, we discovered the silo we'd just launched a missile from- flooding.

Not good at all. How did that missile even launch?

Regardless... What came next was an annoying amount of swimming that I'm not going to bother detailing. It was that annoying and that boring.

Well, that is until we came upon a room inhabited by some kind of sea creature- probably another alien- literally eating a scientist whole- oh, and there were more of those jelly fish barnacle things too.

"I'm getting real tired of Black Mesa." Nova groaned.

"Me too." I agreed.

Shotguns fired, aliens fell.

We moved on, right into a room full of barnacles and crates of ammo.

"Ooh look grenades!"

Before I could stop her, Nova hopped across the room towards a crate with grenades on the lid.

The crate broke the instant she put her foot on it.

"GAH"

"NOVA!"

Neither of us had time to react as a massive flash of green light filled the room- Aliens had teleported in.

"Zappers!"

It was like a reverse ambush! Like how the Military had before hidden in a box and popped out before, the aliens waited for us to jump into a single box before attacking.

Thankfully, the trap was set for one and not two. The alien closest to me was looking at the crate, back turned towards me.

Shotguns roared again.

They fell.

"Damn those zappers!" Nova scowled.

* * *

Moving along, we found a massive generator chamber- which was designed to appear as three sets of massive pistons crashing down on top of each other.

"Joy." I grumbled. "The box smashing room all over again."

As we continued through the hallways and tunnels, fighting aliens where-ever they appeared, I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. I'd yet to see an alien Vs. Soldier encounter.

It was like they were both targeting us!

Then again, considering what Haruhi had just told us about someone arranging things to work for some un-seen goal, that was entirely possible.

After the third encounter with randomly appearing aliens in a server room (Nova, did you have to crash each server like they were your sworn enemies?), we found a scientist who kindly informed us that he'd been tracking our progress through our suits- apparently full of tracking devices.

"Well, it's better than going naked in this mess." The scientist offered when Nova gave him an incredulous glare, before he continued on with some 'advice'. "If you two are dead set on going to the Lambda complex, you'll want to stick to the industrial areas- there are so many security gaps in there that it's a wonder it was ever made a part of this facility!"

And so, with that piece of information delivered...

"Should we dump the suits?" Nova asked.

"Are you kidding?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "These things are a pain to put on, let alone take off. And with all these aliens and soldiers..."

"Tracking devices. Really?" She crossed her arms and huffed. "I'd rather go around naked!"

I couldn't help but stare flatly at her as I tried not to think about the comment she just made. "If you did, you'd be dead the instant we ran into another ambush."

Still not thinking about it.

"Ehhh..." She looked to the side, blushing slightly. "I guess you're right. Damn you and your cold logic."

Damn it- Don't think about it- I wish it were as easy as that.

"Cold Logic. Yeah." Still not thinking about. "Anyways, let's get going."

Leaving the scientist behind, who looked rather amused at our squabbling (Don't think about it), we entered the next area-

"COLD LOGIC? !" I nearly snapped as the temperature dropped thirty degrees in a single second. "D-d-did you really have to say the 'C-c-c-Cold' part! ?"

"S-s-s-sorry." she stuttered.

We worked our way through the maze of frozen pillars and blindly attacking aliens as quickly as we could...

Which lead us straight to an elevator!

And up it lead...straight up into the warmer sections of the facility. Really, Black Mesa, did that room even have a purpose?

"Freeman!" Oh. A Security guard was running towards the elevator. "I was told to give you a message! Don't-"

And he fell with a single gun shot to the throat, not that we heard it fire- though the clattering of a bullet shell was a good audible cue.

Thankfully, there were crates on either side for us to hide behind.

* * *

After a few moments of silence, we realized that there were no soldiers that could have made that kind of shot and not have seen us.

Nova raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She had to ask. "Someone shot the messenger?"

I rolled my eyes. "Seems like someone's too big of a fan of music, really."

After a few moments, we decided to duck out of cover and investigate the...the...Surface Loading docks!

Wow. Sunset alrea- Wait. No.

Sun RISE. Damn it. Why is my mind playing tricks on me? "We haven't been down here that long!"

And then the same muted gun shots rained down from above- lithe figures in black suits were _**shooting**_** at** _US_. With suppressed guns!

"NINJA!" Nova cried out and flung a grenade- one of the ones from the alien trap.

**GLAMP!**

...And down they fell. I'll admit that was a bigger explosion than I thought it should have been. And what was with the green light?

"That was too easy." I frowned as silence fell upon the area after the "ninja" hit the ground.

Then, I saw a Zapper jump down from above- Damn those Aliens are clever! Tagging an explosive with a teleport trigger! Now how the hell did they come up with that one? !

All that was thought in the single second it took as I raised my shotgun and fired.

The Zapper's multiple eyes widened as its body twisted from the impact and landed right on top of a dead ninja, also dead.

"Nice shootin'." Nova whistled.

"Thanks."

* * *

The Surface Loading docks, of course, have surface access. And it just so happened that it was bottle necked through an armory, absolutely packed with military surplus. Rocket launchers, grenades, rockets... Oh, and suit chargers and wall-bound med-stations.

I stopped Nova from entering just outside that door.

"I don't like it." I frowned. That creepy feeling I'd gotten from that guy in the suit was just radiating from the room.

"Well...if it's a trap then I can use the grenades to break through!"

"Too much of a risk for you."

"You worry too much!"

"Nova. I don't think we should go this way."

"It's the only way TO go!"

"..." She would have stepped into the room regardless of any protest I could have made. And she did.

_**SLAM!**_

Yet again the trap was designed for only one person- an invisible, metal door slammed shut the moment she was through the frame, something that moved so fast it nearly chipped the paint off of my suit's chest armor.

"NOVA!" I banged my hands against the door as soon as I realized what had happened. "Damn it!"

I heard the sounds of a tussle inside, metal ringing as it was hit by, or hitting, something, and there were shouts and groans from whatever was going on.

And then a bullet pinged past my shoulder.

A Two stage trap after all!

I Spun around, spotting a heavily armored soldier standing near the door controls, on the level above me, aiming an MP5. _At **me**_.

But he wasn't firing beyond that first warning shot.

"HEY!" I roared. "What the hell are you doing!"

The Soldier laughed through his mask, free of radio cover, but still muted slightly by the cover it provided. "Just looking for information, Mister Freeman." I could just hear the grin through the mask. "See, I'm _supposed _to kill you dead, while we take your girl in for interrogation...But..." he laughed. "I'm looking for a friend of mine- was supposed to fly in at the start of this, but his chopper crashed. I don't suppose you've ran into him by any chance- a man by the name Adrian Shepherd?"

For a moment I just stared, then replied: "Here are all of the dog-tags from the soldiers that have tried to kill me and Nova so far." I fished the things out of a pocket and threw them up at the soldier above me. "The name doesn't ring a bell, so I don't think I've had the misfortune to run into him, or vice-versa." I then added. "Make sure those get to their families. Let them know we did it all in self-defense."

The man caught the mass of tags with one hand and shook them lightly as he looked them over. "Self-Defense huh?"

"Look, Nova and I are scientists." I began. "For absolutely no reason, soldiers and aliens alike have been trying to kill me and everyone I've met for absolutely no reason at all." he didn't seem to be taken back by that.

"No reason, huh?" he was still partially distracted reading the names.

"Yeah!" I scowled. "A Resonance Cascade was triggered entirely by the crystal sample that our administrator wanted scanned at a resolution beyond the scope's safest parameters, and adding in the fact that we were having technical problems all morning...?" I held my hands out to the side. "We didn't want any of this! All Nova and I have wanted through this whole ordeal was to get out of here and to safety, and both sides have seen fit to just target us both for being the idiots stuck in the center of it all!"

"Then _why_ did you fire off that missile last night?" he asked, taking a moment to look away from his reading of the dog-tags. There was something _smug_ in the way he said that.

"So someone _did _notice." I had to comment, with about equal smugness. "That missile contained a device that's supposed to _stop_ the Cascade, or so I was told." I narrowed my eyes at the soldier, whose iron sight had not left their spot on my head for a single second. "To be honest, I'm not sure if most of the people asking me to fire that thing off were asking me to do it because I was wearing this suit, but I know that the one person who told me about it- right before Nova _and I_ fired that rocket, by the way- wouldn't lie to me. Not after everything we've been through.

The soldier finished his check of the dog-tags, then turned his gun to the side and fired off into a nearby crate, which made me jump a little. "I like you, Mister Freeman." he laughed slightly as he lowered his gun to his side. Odd. That stance... "The Tracking Device is on your belt, the little silver plate over the belt buckle. Take it off and leave it here."

"And why should I believe you?" I inquired as I did as he asked.

"Oh, you'll see eventually." The man laughed and...Damn that's familiar. Why is this guy so god damn familiar? "They're taking Miss Tsuruya past the garbage compactor, using the left path. If you go right, you can out pace them. That will be your best bet at taking the guards out and rescuing her."

And with that, he nudged the gun into the controls next to him, and the door behind me raised up as fast as it had closed.

"Now get going." he ordered. "She's waiting for you."

"Thanks." I nodded, and then turned to leave, rushing down the corridors he'd said they hadn't taken Nova down, but as I did, I heard the man say something else...

Something that he shouldn't have known.

"Good luck, Kyon."

* * *

Damn it. This isn't making any sense.

I ran, as fast as I could.

How did that soldier know my old nickname? Damn it. With that name and the way he was standing, laughing- I KNOW him. How do I know him?

It doesn't matter. Not right now. I'll figure it out later.

Right now, I need to find Nova.

Damn it Black Mesa.

Just outside the exit area was a familiar set of canyons. I think we rode through here on the way into Sector C!

Damn, this is close. So close.

Ugh.

I kept running. No soldiers were shooting at me- no planes swooping down from the sky- No Aliens spawning.

I'd actually removed a tracking device! There was only One? I guess that one scientist didn't know that, but...

Gotta keep going.

* * *

True to the familiar-soldiers word, I out paced the bad-soldiers dragging an unconscious Nova past the trash compactor by a good minute.

This is going to be worth it.

Crowbar out in right hand...Let's hope they don't recognize me... I strolled out behind them, sprint to catch up...and...

"Excuse me, sir." I said simply as I reached up to tap one of them on the shoulder with my left hand. "You forgot something!"

__Forgot what?__Both stopped as they turned their heads around to face me.

_**SLAM!**_

The face-mask shattered under the force of the crowbar's business end, and the momentum carried through and smashed into the next soldier's face.

"Me." I finished as the two guards hit the ground, unconscious.

END EPISODE 15.

**A.N.: And I'M BACK. X) well. To be fair, I haven't really left. But! I mean, I'm back writing this story! :) How long has it been since I last did an update on this? ...Dunno. Been too busy with my Xros Wars AU...Which ironically inspired the opening of this chapter. Heh. Anyways! I hope this chapter's up to standards. Well, maybe a bit more than this story's provided thus far, as my styles evolved a little since the last update. ANYWAYS! Promise fulfilled, this is the next thing uploaded, and I think I'll keep on working on this for a little while, maybe. Heh... I was hoping to have this out by the time the Black Mesa Mod was released, but a few days behind, that's not bad? Still in the spirit of the game, I think. _DTC**


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